Back in 2014, Sapphire Energy and the US Department of Energy embarked on a project to advance Sapphire’s (then) biomass production technologies across three priority areas to meet a target of 2,500 gallons of oil per acre per year by 2018. Productivity is directly related to the economics of algal biofuels production. By improving average […]
Sapphire is a venture capital backed company founded in 2007 for the purpose of growing and processing micro-algae into products that serve very large and diverse markets where the unique attributes of algae provide valuable solutions. Sapphire’s technology uses sunlight, CO2, non-potable water, non-arable land, nutrients, and novel strains of algae in outdoor ponds to […]
A period of lower-cost oil has, famously, descended on the market, reminding us that business models should always take into account “black swan” economic events such as the battle between OPEC and unconventional oil producers over some 10% of global market share, which has tumbled oil prices some 20% down, with US currency strength causing […]
Sapphire is a venture capital backed company founded in 2007 for the purpose of growing and processing micro-algae into products that serve very large and diverse markets where the unique attributes of algae provide valuable solutions. Sapphire’s world-leading technology uses sunlight, CO2, non-potable water, non-arable land, nutrients, and novel strains of algae in outdoor ponds […]
Here is the first of a series of slide selections from this week’s Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference – ABLC Next 2014, underway in San Francisco. Sapphire Energy’s new multi-market product approach Joule’s breakthrough photosynthetic efficiency Cellana – multi-products for algae, just like petroleum Liquid Light – pining up markets for CO2 Biosynthetic Technologies – Industrial […]
The state of R&D so far. 4 NAABB advances brought the cost of algae biocrude oil down to $7.50 per gallon. 3 roadblocks remain between today’s cost and $3.00. This is a two-part series. In Part I here, we look first at the breakthroughs that have radically changed the costs and outlook. In Part II today, we […]
Here are the winning Photo Votes for the week in this years’s competition for the Hottest Companies in the Advanced Bioeconomy, Renewable Chemicals & Biomaterials. “There’s nothing like a photo vote to help a company — in the strange and microscopic world of industrial biotechnology — to visualize its creativity, company spirit, and communicate a fun, positive […]
10 leaders, 10 enterprises, 10 paths to scale — what’s really key to making algae a commercial crop for feed, fuel and pharma, soon? This week at the Algae Biomass Summit, a pair of key sessions featured 10 of the leading companies in the algae sector: Paul Woods, CEO, Algenol Jason Kolb, VP, Algix Tim […]
Former Verenium CEO and Goldman exec ushers in new commercial era at Sapphire, as CJ Warner relinquishes CEO title, remaining as Chairman. In California, the Digest learned that James “Jamie” Levine has been appointed CEO of Sapphire Energym succeeding Cynthia J. “CJ” Warner, who will remain the company’s chairman. Levine, a former Goldman exec, took […]
The Digest has heard from China that Sapphire Energy’s and Sinopec’s algae-derived renewable crude oil project has been selected for the U.S.-China EcoPartnerships program, and that the announcement is being made overnight US time in Beijing, China, by the U.S. Secretary of State and the People’s Republic of China State Councilor. Details on the project […]
