50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy: Special Voter’s Report on Algae – company updates

PetroAlgae is making fuel and proteins out of lemna (duckweed) in Fellsmere, and is nearing completion of a vertically integrated, scaleable, licensable 5-6,000 gallon per acre microcrop production system. A first master licensee has been announced for China, Taiwan and part of Japan. More on petroalgae at biofuelsdigest.com.

Sapphire Energy said the pace of algae commercialization is increasing and that it will reach commercial scale by 2011, and producing 1 Mgy of diesel and jet fuel from algae that year, double its previous estimate.

Solazyme is selling fuel to the US Navy and the US Air Force – nearly 50,000 gallons in total at a reported cost of $32 per gallon.  Life Cycle Associates 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). More on Solazyme at biofuelsdigest.com.

Synthetic Genomics signed a $600 million R&D deal with ExxonMobil. Half the proceeds will go to SG based on a staged-gate release of funds for meeting undisclosed milestones.  More on Synthetic Genomics at biofuelsdigest.com.

BP has signed an R&D partnership with Martek, the leading developer of algae for nutraceutical markets.  More on BP at biofuelsdigest.com.

Algenol has signed a $70 million partnership with Dow Chemical for its algae-to-ethanol process, and will establish a project site in Texas at a Dow location.  More on Algenol at biofuelsdigest.com.

Solix has opened a pilot-scale plant in Durango, Colorado, partly financed by the Southern Ute Indian Tribe. More on Solix at biofuelsdigest.com.

Free Subscription to the Daily Biofuels Digest e-newsletter

Related Stories

Company profiles for “50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy” rankings available

This year, subscribers will be voting this November on the 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy - in addition to votes from the expert selector panel. Profiles on candidate companies are available here, ...

50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy: Complete candidate profiles and company registration information

The 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy rankings  for 2009-10 will be released Tuesday, 12/1. Rules and procedures Register your company Candidate profiles Aquaflow Bionomic Balboa Pacifi...

Sapphire Energy adds BP Global Refining head as President

In California, BP's Group VP for Global Refining, Cynthia "C.J." Warner, will leave the company to join algae-to-energy pioneer Sapphire Energy as President, as the #2 ranked company in the '50 Hottes...

Coskata, Sapphire Energy and Virent head the “50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy” rankings

Cellulosic ethanol pioneer Coskata took the #1 spot in the “50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy” rankings for 2008-09, published today by Biofuels Digest. Algae-to-energy start-up Sapphire Energy t...

Biofuels Digest Special Report on Gasification & Pyrolysis: Coskata aims for grand scale in Florida

Last December, Coskata was ranked #1 on the Biofuels Digest "Hottest 50 Companies in Bioenergy", nearing an historic deal to build a 100 Mgy gasification based cellulosic ethanol plan based on gasific...

50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy: Special Voter’s Report on Algae

Algae, algae, algae. Open up an industry magazine or a website, and there doesn't seem to be an end to the hope, the hype, and the coverage. What's the big deal? The background Microalgae ...