Turning algae into ethanol, and gold
June 11, 2008 - Exclusive
By Carli Ghelfi,
Cleantech GroupNo ponds, no fresh water, no harvesting, no oils. One algal biofuel company says it's found a way to convert algae directly into ethanol on the cheap.Is it, in fact, a watershed in biofuels from algae?
Naples, Fla.-based Algenol Biofuels says it has found a way to inexpensively bring third-generation biofuels to industrial scale.
And, unlike most algal biofuel companies, it's apparently got a licensing deal for an $850 million project to show for it.
The company believes its seawater-based process can generate up to a billion gallons of algal ethanol per year from a facility in Mexico.
“We’re not in the biodiesel business, the lipids business or oil business,” according to CEO Paul Woods. “We believe we have the most advanced third-generation technology. Our process is completely different.”
Algenol claims to use algae, sunlight, CO2 and seawater in closed bioreactors to produce ethanol, not the biodiesel most conventional algae companies are pursuing.
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