Algae Fuel:
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Alternative Energy
If corn-based biofuels are the Britney Spears of the cleantech world (a fallen star but still all
over the place), fuel made from algae is the next great American Idol winner (major potential
in the pipeline). And despite the fact that algae-to-biofuel startups have been taking their
sweet time bringing a pond scum fuel product to market, some inroads have been made
recently — GreenFuel is building its first plant, PetroSun starts producing at their farm on
April 1, and big oil Chevron and Shell have made some early bets as well.
As we watch this play out, here are 15 algae biofuel firms that you should know about:
GreenFuel Technologies: The Cambridge, Mass.-based algae firm led by telecom bigwig
Bob Metcalfe (whom we interviewed here) has reached an agreement to build its first fuel
plant — worth $92 million — in Europe, says Xconomy. It’s good news for the firm, which has
hit some speed bumps over the past year, including layoffs, switching CEOs, shutting down a
greenhouse in Arizona and discovering that its algae tech was more expensive than first
planned.
The startup builds algae bioreactor systems, which use recycled CO2 to feed the algae,
which is then converted into biofuels; it uses the containers to carefully control the algae’s
intake of sunlight and nutrients. GreenFuel is backed by Polaris Ventures, Draper Fisher
Jurvetson (our video interview with DFJ here) and Access Private Equity and has been
working on raising a Series C funding.
Solazyme: The five-year old firm uses synthetic biology and genetic engineering to tweak
algal strains for better biofuel yields. Based in South San Francisco, the company grows its
algae in fermentation tanks without sunlight, by feeding it sugar. The company is one of the
few that have managed to do deals with a major oil company — Chevron — as well as
biodiesel maker Imperium Renewables. Backers include Blue Crest Capital Finance and The
Roda Group.
Blue Marble Energy: The Seattle-based company finds algae-infested polluted water
systems, cleans up the environment, and turns the algae into biofuel. “If the future of
biofuels is algae…you’re never going to get enough volume in bioreactors or ponds…It has
to be something with greater volume,” the company told the Guardian . We’re not sure how
Blue Marble will control the wild algae settings, but it sounds like it could be difficult.
Inventure Chemical: Also out of Seattle, this startup is working on an algae-to-jet fuel
product, and told the Seattle PI that it has already created algae-based fuel in 5- to 10-
gallon tests and plans to set up a test plant to see if it can produce between from three and
15 million gallons of biofuel each year. Inventure Chemical closed its first round of funding
mid-2007, and investors are reported to be biodiesel company Imperium Renewables, Cedar
Grove Investments, Brighton Jones Wealth Management and undisclosed angel investors.
Solena: Profiled in the New York Times today, Solena uses high temperatures to gasify
algae and other organic substances with high-energy outputs. The Washington state-based
company is talking with Kansas power firm Sunflower to build a 40-megawatt power plant run
on gasified algae, according to the NYT; the algae would be grown in big plastic containers,
and fed by a combination of sunlight and the sodium bicarbonate biproduct of the adjacent
coal plant.
Live Fuels: Instead of attempting to convert algae directly into ethanol or biodiesel, this
startup is trying to create green crude that could be fed directly through the nation’s current
refinery system. The Menlo Park, Calif-based startup uses open-pond algae bioreactors and
plans to commercialize its technology by 2010. Investors include the Quercus Trust (David
Gelbaum’s well-known environmental funding group) and Sandia National Labs.
Solix Biofuels: Like Live Fuels, Solix is also working on a biocrude, but using a closed-tank
bioreactor set-up. Based in Fort Collins, Colo., and founded in April 2006, the firm is backed
by Colorado State University’s Engine and Energy Conversion Laboratory. The company
has said that construction will begin shortly on its first, large-scale bioreactor at the nearby
New Belgian Brewery, where CO2 waste produced during the beer-making proicess will be
used to feed the algae.
Aurora Biofuels: Developed at the University of California at Berkeley, the company is
using genetically modified algae to efficiently create biodiesel. The Aurora claims the
technology, developed by microbial biology professor Tasios Melis, can create biodiesel fuel
with yields that are 125 times higher and have 50 percent lower costs than current
production methods. According to the company’s web site, backers include Gabriel Venture
Partners, Noventi, Oak Investment Partners (and angel investors include Auttomatic CEO
Toni Schneider)
Aquaflow Binomics: The New Zealand company’s goal is to become “the first company in
the world to economically produce biofuel from wild algae harvested from open-air
environments.” Like Blue Marble Energy, the three-year-old startup sources its algae from
algae-infested polluted water systems, cleaning the polluted environment in the process.
Late last year, publicly held Aquaflow used its algae-based biodiesel to run a Land Rover
driven by New Zealand’s Minister of Climate Change. And it’s been working with Boeing on
algae-to-bio-based jet fuel.
Petro Sun: This company is also publicly held, but we thought it was important to include it
because they plan to start up their algae-to-biofuel production factory in Rio Honda, Texas,
on April 1. The algae farm has 1,100 acres ponds that Petro Sun thinks will make 4.4 million
gallons of algal oil and 110 million pounds of biomass per year. Some think the company is
just jumping on the algae-slimed bandwagon.
Bionavitas: Based in Snoqualmie, Wash., the company says it has developed technology
for the high-volume production of algae using bioreactors. Check out their WIPO patent app
for the bioreactor setup.
Mighty Algae Biofuels: The little we do know about Mighty Algae Biofuels we learned
through their entrance in the California Cleantech Open last year. We know, for example,
that it uses closed bioreactors to grow the algae. They were also quoted in the San Jose
Mercury this month on a story about algae biofuel.
Bodega Algae: Another newbee, this one with roots at MIT, the one-year-old firm has
developed a set-up to grow algae in bioreactors with light and nutrients that it says is lower
cost and more efficient than the current methods. Back in May 2007 Bodega said it was
looking for $300,000 for “capital equipment, salaries and testing materials to complete the
first prototype and begin a pilot study with a biodiesel manufacturing facility.” (Their web site
is down, so we’ll if they’re still around).
Seambiotic: The five-year-old Israeli startup produces algae for applications, including the
budding biofuel industry, and is working with Inventure Chemical. The firm has been working
with Israeli Electric Company, utilizing IEC’s smokestack for a source of CO2 and grows
algae in eight open algae ponds.
Cellena: A joint venture created by Hawaiian algae-to-biofuel startup HR Biopetroleum and
oil company Shell. Shell has majority share of the company, which is in the process of
building a demo facility on the Kona coast of Hawaii.
over the place), fuel made from algae is the next great American Idol winner (major potential
in the pipeline). And despite the fact that algae-to-biofuel startups have been taking their
sweet time bringing a pond scum fuel product to market, some inroads have been made
recently — GreenFuel is building its first plant, PetroSun starts producing at their farm on
April 1, and big oil Chevron and Shell have made some early bets as well.
As we watch this play out, here are 15 algae biofuel firms that you should know about:
GreenFuel Technologies: The Cambridge, Mass.-based algae firm led by telecom bigwig
Bob Metcalfe (whom we interviewed here) has reached an agreement to build its first fuel
plant — worth $92 million — in Europe, says Xconomy. It’s good news for the firm, which has
hit some speed bumps over the past year, including layoffs, switching CEOs, shutting down a
greenhouse in Arizona and discovering that its algae tech was more expensive than first
planned.
The startup builds algae bioreactor systems, which use recycled CO2 to feed the algae,
which is then converted into biofuels; it uses the containers to carefully control the algae’s
intake of sunlight and nutrients. GreenFuel is backed by Polaris Ventures, Draper Fisher
Jurvetson (our video interview with DFJ here) and Access Private Equity and has been
working on raising a Series C funding.
Solazyme: The five-year old firm uses synthetic biology and genetic engineering to tweak
algal strains for better biofuel yields. Based in South San Francisco, the company grows its
algae in fermentation tanks without sunlight, by feeding it sugar. The company is one of the
few that have managed to do deals with a major oil company — Chevron — as well as
biodiesel maker Imperium Renewables. Backers include Blue Crest Capital Finance and The
Roda Group.
Blue Marble Energy: The Seattle-based company finds algae-infested polluted water
systems, cleans up the environment, and turns the algae into biofuel. “If the future of
biofuels is algae…you’re never going to get enough volume in bioreactors or ponds…It has
to be something with greater volume,” the company told the Guardian . We’re not sure how
Blue Marble will control the wild algae settings, but it sounds like it could be difficult.
Inventure Chemical: Also out of Seattle, this startup is working on an algae-to-jet fuel
product, and told the Seattle PI that it has already created algae-based fuel in 5- to 10-
gallon tests and plans to set up a test plant to see if it can produce between from three and
15 million gallons of biofuel each year. Inventure Chemical closed its first round of funding
mid-2007, and investors are reported to be biodiesel company Imperium Renewables, Cedar
Grove Investments, Brighton Jones Wealth Management and undisclosed angel investors.
Solena: Profiled in the New York Times today, Solena uses high temperatures to gasify
algae and other organic substances with high-energy outputs. The Washington state-based
company is talking with Kansas power firm Sunflower to build a 40-megawatt power plant run
on gasified algae, according to the NYT; the algae would be grown in big plastic containers,
and fed by a combination of sunlight and the sodium bicarbonate biproduct of the adjacent
coal plant.
Live Fuels: Instead of attempting to convert algae directly into ethanol or biodiesel, this
startup is trying to create green crude that could be fed directly through the nation’s current
refinery system. The Menlo Park, Calif-based startup uses open-pond algae bioreactors and
plans to commercialize its technology by 2010. Investors include the Quercus Trust (David
Gelbaum’s well-known environmental funding group) and Sandia National Labs.
Solix Biofuels: Like Live Fuels, Solix is also working on a biocrude, but using a closed-tank
bioreactor set-up. Based in Fort Collins, Colo., and founded in April 2006, the firm is backed
by Colorado State University’s Engine and Energy Conversion Laboratory. The company
has said that construction will begin shortly on its first, large-scale bioreactor at the nearby
New Belgian Brewery, where CO2 waste produced during the beer-making proicess will be
used to feed the algae.
Aurora Biofuels: Developed at the University of California at Berkeley, the company is
using genetically modified algae to efficiently create biodiesel. The Aurora claims the
technology, developed by microbial biology professor Tasios Melis, can create biodiesel fuel
with yields that are 125 times higher and have 50 percent lower costs than current
production methods. According to the company’s web site, backers include Gabriel Venture
Partners, Noventi, Oak Investment Partners (and angel investors include Auttomatic CEO
Toni Schneider)
Aquaflow Binomics: The New Zealand company’s goal is to become “the first company in
the world to economically produce biofuel from wild algae harvested from open-air
environments.” Like Blue Marble Energy, the three-year-old startup sources its algae from
algae-infested polluted water systems, cleaning the polluted environment in the process.
Late last year, publicly held Aquaflow used its algae-based biodiesel to run a Land Rover
driven by New Zealand’s Minister of Climate Change. And it’s been working with Boeing on
algae-to-bio-based jet fuel.
Petro Sun: This company is also publicly held, but we thought it was important to include it
because they plan to start up their algae-to-biofuel production factory in Rio Honda, Texas,
on April 1. The algae farm has 1,100 acres ponds that Petro Sun thinks will make 4.4 million
gallons of algal oil and 110 million pounds of biomass per year. Some think the company is
just jumping on the algae-slimed bandwagon.
Bionavitas: Based in Snoqualmie, Wash., the company says it has developed technology
for the high-volume production of algae using bioreactors. Check out their WIPO patent app
for the bioreactor setup.
Mighty Algae Biofuels: The little we do know about Mighty Algae Biofuels we learned
through their entrance in the California Cleantech Open last year. We know, for example,
that it uses closed bioreactors to grow the algae. They were also quoted in the San Jose
Mercury this month on a story about algae biofuel.
Bodega Algae: Another newbee, this one with roots at MIT, the one-year-old firm has
developed a set-up to grow algae in bioreactors with light and nutrients that it says is lower
cost and more efficient than the current methods. Back in May 2007 Bodega said it was
looking for $300,000 for “capital equipment, salaries and testing materials to complete the
first prototype and begin a pilot study with a biodiesel manufacturing facility.” (Their web site
is down, so we’ll if they’re still around).
Seambiotic: The five-year-old Israeli startup produces algae for applications, including the
budding biofuel industry, and is working with Inventure Chemical. The firm has been working
with Israeli Electric Company, utilizing IEC’s smokestack for a source of CO2 and grows
algae in eight open algae ponds.
Cellena: A joint venture created by Hawaiian algae-to-biofuel startup HR Biopetroleum and
oil company Shell. Shell has majority share of the company, which is in the process of
building a demo facility on the Kona coast of Hawaii.
15 Algae Startups Bring Pond Scum to the Fuel Tank
The Planet is Covered with Water
Half Moon Bay, Calif--A number
of companies have sketched
out plans to convert algae into
a feedstock for transportation
fuel, but GreenFuel
Technologies is farther along in
bringing the concept to market
than most.
And the Cambridge,
Mass.-based company trotted
out numbers at the Think
Tomorrow Today conference
sponsored by ThinkEquity
Partners here (say that three
times fast) to illuminate why the
idea is getting so much
attention.
First off, algae grows rapidly
and grows constantly, which
means that algae ponds can
produce more oil per hectare in
a year than traditional plant
crops, said GreenFuel CFO
Guillermo Espiga.
A hectare pond filled with algae
can produce 15,000 to 80,000
liters of vegetable oil a year.
Only about 6,000 liters of palm
oil can be squeezed out of a
hectare a year. Corn is only
good for 120 hectares of oil a
year, Espiga said.
Algae can also be converted
into a variety of materials,
insulating producers from
changes in commodity prices to
some degree. It can be turned
into alcohol for ethanol,
biomass that can be burned in
a furnace, or animal feed (which
can also be sold under the
Soylent Green brand name in
grocery stores). A single
hectare can generate 8,000
gallons of oil, 2,400 gallons of
ethanol a year and 2.6 tons of
glycerin, a material bought by
the cosmetics industry, he said.
But there's more. GreenFuel
plans to produce algae in
ponds next to coal-fired power
plants. The carbon dioxide from
the plants is captured and
provides the food for growing
the algae. At a 100 megawatt
coal-burning power plant, 100
acres of algae ponds, optimized
with species that grow well in
that particular environment, will
consume 90 percent of the CO2
from the plant.
Thus, power plants that deploy
the technology will generate
revenue from carbon credits as
well as make money from selling
feedstocks. Espiga estimates
that there are 1,750 power
plants in the U.S. that sit next to
spare real estate that could
accommodate some of
GreenFuel's algae ponds. The
standard size of the algae
facilities will be around 250
acres, he said.
of companies have sketched
out plans to convert algae into
a feedstock for transportation
fuel, but GreenFuel
Technologies is farther along in
bringing the concept to market
than most.
And the Cambridge,
Mass.-based company trotted
out numbers at the Think
Tomorrow Today conference
sponsored by ThinkEquity
Partners here (say that three
times fast) to illuminate why the
idea is getting so much
attention.
First off, algae grows rapidly
and grows constantly, which
means that algae ponds can
produce more oil per hectare in
a year than traditional plant
crops, said GreenFuel CFO
Guillermo Espiga.
A hectare pond filled with algae
can produce 15,000 to 80,000
liters of vegetable oil a year.
Only about 6,000 liters of palm
oil can be squeezed out of a
hectare a year. Corn is only
good for 120 hectares of oil a
year, Espiga said.
Algae can also be converted
into a variety of materials,
insulating producers from
changes in commodity prices to
some degree. It can be turned
into alcohol for ethanol,
biomass that can be burned in
a furnace, or animal feed (which
can also be sold under the
Soylent Green brand name in
grocery stores). A single
hectare can generate 8,000
gallons of oil, 2,400 gallons of
ethanol a year and 2.6 tons of
glycerin, a material bought by
the cosmetics industry, he said.
But there's more. GreenFuel
plans to produce algae in
ponds next to coal-fired power
plants. The carbon dioxide from
the plants is captured and
provides the food for growing
the algae. At a 100 megawatt
coal-burning power plant, 100
acres of algae ponds, optimized
with species that grow well in
that particular environment, will
consume 90 percent of the CO2
from the plant.
Thus, power plants that deploy
the technology will generate
revenue from carbon credits as
well as make money from selling
feedstocks. Espiga estimates
that there are 1,750 power
plants in the U.S. that sit next to
spare real estate that could
accommodate some of
GreenFuel's algae ponds. The
standard size of the algae
facilities will be around 250
acres, he said.
Algae, Do the Math
Copyright 2008 Harold R Muxlow