Solazyme: 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy candidate profile

Solazyme
Based in: California
2008-09 ranking: #6

Business: Solazyme, which was ranked #6 in the Hottest 50 Companies in Bioenergy for 2008-09 said that it will be developing markets in the high-end cosmaceutical and pharmaceutical sectors as well as continuing to make progress towards making biodiesel and jet fuel at commercially viable costs. The company utilizes a unique “grow in the dark” algae cultivation strategy, in which the algae is fed plant waste cellulosic and other cellulosic materials that contain sugars – the food is used in lieu of sunlight and CO2 to provide energy that algae convert into lipids.

Model: Owner-operator

Past milestones:

1. Closed a $57 million third round of funding. Funds were invested by Braemar Energy Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, VantagePoint, Roda Group, Harris & Harris and Solazyme chairman Jerry Fiddler.

2. The California Energy Commission’s Public Interest Energy Research program awarded a $789,697 Biosynthetic Transportation Fuel Production grant that will support the company’s R&D efforts. The award takes nearly half of the $1.65 million program funding that PIER recently announced.

3. Selected by the U.S. Department of Defense to research, develop, and demonstrate commercial scale production of algae-derived F-76 Naval Distillate fuel for testing and fuel certification to demonstrate it meets all military specifications and functional requirements. The contract includes both R&D and fuel delivery components and calls for delivery of over 20,000 gallons of Soladiesel F-76 fuel to the Navy for compatibility testing over the next year.  F-76 Naval Distillate is similar to diesel fuel and is the primary shipboard fuel used by the Navy. This program will lead to the eventual certification of Soladiesel F-76 Naval distillate for commercial sale to the U.S. Military.

Future milestones:

1.  CTO and co-founder Harrison Dillon said that the company would be at parity with $80 oil by 2012/13.

2. CEO Jonathan Wolfson said that he expected the company to be at 100 Mgy in production at that time.

Metrics: Life Cycle Associates, the same consultant that performed lifecycle greenhouse gas calculations for the California Air Resources Board, completed a field-to-wheels assessment of Soladiesel, the company’s algae-based biodiesel using the Argonne National Laboratories GREET model. LCA found that Soladiesel’s full lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are 85 to 93 percent lower than standard petroleum based ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD). Additional testing by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory found that Soladiesel also generates a 30 percent reduction in particulates, a nearly 20 percent reduction in carbon monoxide and and a nearly 10 percent reduction in THC.

Solazyme quotable quotes: “The company has now reached 60 employees and has raised $75 million in equity, expecting to commence sales into non-fuel markets for its omega-3 rich algae this year (2009).”

“Solazyme received the Biofuels Digest Award for Achievement in Advanced Biofuels & Feedstocks. Solazyme received the award for their pioneering production of algae-based aviation fuel and motor transport biodiesel. “There isn’t anything hotter than algae-to-energy, but sometimes it has been easier to find the business plans and grant applications than the fuel,” said Biofuels Digest editor Jim Lane. “Solazyme has been getting it done, making it happen, with a unique process that does not use sunlight as an energy source, and shows real promise in scalability.”

The Hot 50 for 2009-10 will be released Tuesday, 12/1. Between now and then, you’ll see profiles of potential candidates in the Digest, and you’ll have a chance to vote for your favorites. Reader response will count for 50 percent of a company’s overall score in the preparation of the rankings. The remaining 50 percent is voted by a panel of experts.

Information on registering your company for the “50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy” rankings is here. While registration is not required, completing the candidate profile allows companies to augment information provided to the panel of selectors – registration form materials are also used to create candidate profiles that are published daily in Biofuels Digest.

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