I thought I might make this thread for people to list their ideas on processing the algae to get the oils out of it.

Actual extraction seems to be the biggest hurdle atm so ideas and experimentation in this area are really needed. Some equipment for processing can be quite costly so developing newer, cheaper methods are needed by all. If you have an idea, please post it in this thread.

One method that I've heard of is ultrasonic processing. I'm wondering if putting the algae into a cheap ultrasonic jewlrey cleaner would work as these can be picked up rather cheaply.

Good thinking. Ultrasonics are used along with process flow, so you feed algae past the the ultrasound output, basically in a small chamber.
Hielscher.com is an example

The same thing for a smaller scale might be built with a pond fogger, basically an ultrasonic source, inside a small container with an inlet and outlet. Then you would flow the algae through at a controlled rate, basically slow enough for algae cell destruction to take place. $20-$50.

Lab scale ultrasonic cleaners, like these, might be better for a production system. $200-$400

Well I was thinking something a bit cheaper like this http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.9252 but of course you can use what you want. Yeah, a pond fogger might work too. You just need them cavatation bubbles.

Another thing I was thinking is maybe electrolysis. I have a bucket making some iron oxide and ocasionally some of the algae liquid has dropped into it. Over the last few days I've noticed an oil slick on the surface of the water in the iron oxide bucket. Might be another route to explore.

The fogger idea sounds really cool, but I guess you whould need some kind of destillery to separate the water from the oil from the resulting steam, right?

As I understand the fogger "boils" the liquid resulting in a nice effect, i.e. steam coming out of the liquid.

Anyone tried using a ultrasonic cleaner yet?

So using a pond fogger at the bottom of a conical settling tank might be an option.