Turning algae into ethanol, and gold

[Hope And Change]

Turning algae into ethanol, and gold

June 11, 2008 - Exclusive
By Carli Ghelfi, Cleantech Group

No ponds, no fresh water, no harvesting, no oils. One algal biofuel company says it's found a way to convert algae directly into ethanol on the cheap.

Is it, in fact, a watershed in biofuels from algae?

Naples, Fla.-based Algenol Biofuels says it has found a way to inexpensively bring third-generation biofuels to industrial scale.

And, unlike most algal biofuel companies, it's apparently got a licensing deal for an $850 million project to show for it.

The company believes its seawater-based process can generate up to a billion gallons of algal ethanol per year from a facility in Mexico.

“We’re not in the biodiesel business, the lipids business or oil business,” according to CEO Paul Woods. “We believe we have the most advanced third-generation technology. Our process is completely different.”

Algenol claims to use algae, sunlight, CO2 and seawater in closed bioreactors to produce ethanol, not the biodiesel most conventional algae companies are pursuing.


http://media.cleantech.com/2961/algal-biofuels-algenol-ethanol-solazyme-sonora-mexico">Read The Entire Article Here

[PerfectSage]

1. Neat. At least we're going down peak oil shitscreek with a biofuel paddle

http://www.algenolbiofuels.com/

[jwirr]

2. At one point the article calls the company "Mexican owned" but at

the end of the article it talks about some big industrial CEOs. Who owns this company. The idea sounds good.

[WhiteTara]

3. could this help clean the dead zones in the

ocean and in the gulf? That would be incredible.