Sapphire Energy debuts “green crude”; raises $50 million in venture capital for algae-to-gasoline process

In California, Sapphire Energy debuted it’s “green crude”, a gasoline equivalent refined from algae. The company did not disclose its production process but said that it is producing 91 octane gasoline, and said that the company has planned capacity of 153 Mgy on desert land sites in the southwestern US.

The company has raised $50 million in venture capital from ARCH Venture Partners, Venrock and the Wellcome Trust of the UK. It’s research partners include Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Project; the University of California at San Diego; Scripps Research Institute; and the University of Tulsa. The company said that it will open a facility by 2011, but did not announce the location or production capacity.

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