Crude petroleum is the result of the natural transformation of organic matter in descomposition that remains barehanded underground. It´s a process that brings about millions of years and that´s the way most of fuels come from.

Since long time ago, seaweed is used as a resource for developing biofuel, although now it ´s not worthy because high energetic cost that is require to complete transformation process from seaweed to fuel.

A process was develop by engineers in the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, it uses seaweed for producing crude fuel in less than an hour and can refine in a conventional way in fuel. This prototype can process almost two litres of seaweed under 350º and with more than pressure bars. These conditions are the ones that start the process of transforming organic matter into fuel in a natural way, underground, as time goes on.

At the moment, the research gets to improve a process that is already known. Now results make the transformation feasible in costs and also in energetic terms.
Source: microsiervos