Fuel-From-Algae Researchers Claim Breakthrough in Boosting Oil Output

Fuel-From-Algae Researchers Claim Breakthrough in Boosting Oil Output

A Southern California algae research startup claims to have made a breakthrough in the effort to find an economical way to produce biofuels from the aquatic organisms.

Sustainable Green Technologies says its researchers have discovered a way to increase  oil output in a same-sized area of algae to 50 percent from 15 percent without sacrificing plant growth in the process.

Previous attempts to boost oil content have slowed algae's rapid growth, a trade-off that negates the increase in the content of oil that can be processed into biodiesel and other fuels.

The ability to more than triple the oil output of an acre of algae without increasing the demand for land or nutrients would help bring down the cost of production.

Sustainable Green Technologies' work was reported this morning by the subscription-only ClimateWire news service, which quoted University of Minnesota biofuels specialist John Sheehan as saying that the company's claim, if proven, would be a "remarkable breakthrough," resolving a problem that biofuels specialists have been working on for a long time.

The technology is still in the laboratory, but ClimateWire reports that the four-employee company has applied for a $15 million federal grant to begin commercializing the process.
The news service said the scientists wouldn't disclose details of their findings because the process - which hasn't yet been patented - is proprietary.

But they said that, in general, they discovered that waste material from a second process they are investigating - the production of hydrogen from algae - caused explosive growth when fed to oil-producing algae.

Exxon Mobile recently provided nearly two-dozen research groups a total of $600 million to help fund for fuel-from-algae research, much of it aimed at using genetic methods to improve the organism's oil content.

Elmar Shmid, Sustainable Green's chief science officer, told ClimateWire his company's process is unique because it uses natural methods, specifically "a waste stream from a prior fermentation process."

While the company hasn't published details of its process, "if they commercialize the technology and they're successful with it, that's all the proof anybody needs," said Sheehan, the University of Minnesota specialist.

John O'Dell, Senior Editor

John O'Dell:  is an AutoObserver Senior Editor. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.