Solazyme: Millions of Gallons of Algae Biodiesel Within 3 Years
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 08.21.08
The Great Green Goey Hope
While many types of biofuels are far from ideal, there is one that shows more promise than the others: Algae. One of the companies working on algae-based biodiesel is Solazyme (we already wrote about their algae-B100 test-drive), and the latest news is that they are planning to build a new production plant in the next two years with a goal of producing "millions of gallons" of algae oil and biodiesel competitively with fossil fuels within 3 years.
Solazyme Technology
Solazyme is doing things a bit differently from other algae-biofuel startups. Instead of growing the algae in open-air ponds or in glass containers that are exposed to the sun, they are growing them in the dark, in huge containers, and they are feeding them with plant biomass. They then ferment it and extract the oil.
The company's "Soladiesel" biodiesel has been certified "to work in diesel cars" and the oil they produce can be used in existing oil refineries.
Algae Yields
Solazyme CEO Jonathan Wolfson:
"It's our perspective that most numbers (on algae yield) are far in excess of reality, some are beyond theoretical," Wolfson said. Producing less than 10,000 thousand of algae per acre is realistic, "but you're not going to see 100,00 gallons per acre any time soon."
Solazyme Algae Biofuels
Solazyme B100 Algae Biodiesel Goes on the Road
Chevron Backs Solazyme to Develop Algal Biodiesel Technology
Algae Biofuels
Green Star Creates Breakthrough Micronutrient that Boosts Algae Growth
15 Algae Biofuels Startups to Watch
More on Solazyme Algae Biodiesel
Solazyme targets algae fuel in three years
Solazyme Hopes to Mass-Produce Algae Biodiesel in Three Years
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Future Biofuels Could Be Created Out of Thin Air: Craig Venter & Synthetic Genomics
- Big Food’s War on Biofuels
- 90-95% Cost Reduction in Algae Production Claimed by Solix Biofuels
- Algae Biofuel Facility to be Built in Durango, Colorado by Solix Biofuels
Beauty Lab: Perfect Organics All-Natural Orange Ginger Shea Butter
|
Environmental Photographer of the Year Award
|
This is good idea to decrease foriegn oil but not more towards sequestering carbon. Plant feed already can be fed into making ethanol using cellulostic process.
This algae is not necessary.
Prepare the algae that uses Sun light and collect the carbon from atmosphere(or CO2 from nasty coal plants).
I think we just have to assume that is another cellulostic process of making bio-diesel.
So what is the difference here?
The plants that they feed the algae need sunlight and space. I really don't think they can produce enough biodiesel to save us this way.
It seems inefficient to grow plants which then have to be harvested and transported to the algae to feed them. Growing crops is a incredibly fuel intensive process. What's the energy returned on energy invested (ERoEI) for this? While you save space (you can stack bins of algae in the warehouse) it seems it would be more efficient to let algae use the sun directly.
@Venu
1. Cellulostic ethanol is still experimental.
2. Algae has one of the highest gallons per acre of any biofuel process, an important consideration in any country.
3. Ethanol is not biodiesel. They have different applications. Biodiesel has greater energy density as well.
4. No biofuel sequesters carbon. They are all carbon neutral, meaning they absorb carbon from the atmosphere first before burning it and re-releasing it. To sequester carbon you need to create algal blooms in the open ocean, or plant forests.
It depends on what the biomass they are feeding the algae is, and how much better that works than just letting them grow regularly. If they are saying they are competitive with fossil fuels, it probably works pretty well. Maybe that biomass is from ag and forestery waste, or whatever.
Either way, if this way of using algae doesn't scale, there are other ways, so it's worth trying
@ Anon
Even if that biomass is ag waste, it still has to be collected, packaged, transported, and processes, all of which requires energy (mostly fossil fuels today). If it's crop waste, then the soil has to be refertilized, since the waste was not turned back into the soil. I'd really like to see the EROEI for this process with everything taken into account to know if it's superior to growing algae in the sun.