Algae-to-Biofuels Closer to Reality

Companies are closing in on commercializing technology that could great biofuel from algae.

Live Fuels, Inc, a consortium of scientists working with academics and government researchers, is targeting 2010 for making biofuel cost-competitive with crude oil The group received $10 million in early investment lead by David Gelbaum of the Quercus Trust. The scientists are calling it a mini Manhattan project (sans the bomb).

PetroSun of Phoenix has licensed its algae-to-biofuel technology to ETC Energy to commercialize the technology and sell it into the Native American markets. Native Americans tend to care about the environment and have land (that could be used for algae ponds), making them a good target market to develop biofuels.

RenewableEnergyAccess reports that the yield of algae to biofuel has the chance to blow away corn and soy.

Independent studies have demonstrated that algae are capable of producing oil yields in excess of 10,000 gallons per acre annually. The oil yield per acre annually from conventional crops such as corn (80 gallons) and soybeans (40 gallons) are far less than algae.

Algae to biofuel technology has been in the research for several years, but so far commercialization has been elusive.