Algae farmer Sapphire Energy has raised more than $100 million from Bill Gates' Cascade Investments and ARCH Venture Partners. The company claims its organisms have already secreted small amounts of the equivalent of 91 octane gas.
Last week, Sapphire announced an updated timeline on commercial deployment of its green “drop-in” replacement transportation fuel.
Here are the ambitious claims from their press release:
"By 2011, Sapphire Energy will be producing 1 million gallons of diesel and jet fuel per year, double its initial estimates. By 2018, the number, increases to more than 100 million gallons annually; and by 2025, the company will be producing up to 1 billion gallons of fuel per year."
In order to make good on these audacious claims -- Sapphire has to do a lot of things right. It has to get the biology right, it has to be able to scale big and fast, and it has to meet the pricing of the world's most widespread commodity -- liquid transportation fuel.
Sapphire has not revealed the type of algae it uses, but it is likely a genetically modified cyanobacteria, a blue-green algae. The advantage to this form of algae is that the algae actually secretes the biocrude oil, eliminating the need to harvest and dry the algae or extract the algal lipids for processing into fuel. There is another type of algae, Botryococcus braunii, from the plant kingdom, that is also a producer of hydrocarbons.
“Fuel from algae is not just a laboratory experiment or something to speculate on for years to come. We’ve worked tirelessly, and the technology is ready now,” said Brian Goodall, Vice President Downstream Technology, at Sapphire Energy.
Sapphire plans to grow the genetically modified organisms in open ponds using non-potable water and non-arable land -- bringing to mind the question of how it will contain the genetically modified organisms.
There are lots of audacious claims in the algae biofuel world these days (see Exaggerated Claims in Algae). The claims range from production volumes per acre to time-to-market. Startups like Sapphire are often asked to meet the unrealistic expectations of their VC investors who look for accelerated technical results and rapid commercial scaling.
If Sapphire's claims are true -- algae biofuels will soon contribute to meeting the Federal Renewable Fuel Standard and help the U.S. lessen its dependence on foreign oil. More details on Sapphire soon.
More on algae commercialization:
The April issue of the Greentech Innovations Report takes a deep dive into the algae pond. You can order it here.
