Upstart Solazyme promises to make fuel from algae

It's not the first to turn to algae and biomass as a source of fuel, but upstart Solazyme seems to think it's got a leg up on other biofuel makers and its apparently lining up the deals and big bucks to prove it. As Technology Review reports, that includes Chevron, which is now in a "testing agreement" with the start-up, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which dished out a $2 million grant to the company. The trick that's attracted all that interest, it seems, is the company's particular way of using algae to convert biomass into fuel, which takes the apparently unorthodox approach of growing them in the dark, which causes them to produce more oil than they do in the light. What's more, Solazyme's method also apparently allows them to use different strains of algae to produce different types of oil, including a mix of hydrocarbons that's similar to light crude petroleum. Needless to say, all of this is still quite a ways away from finding its way into your car's tank, but the company has demonstrated its algae-based fuel in a diesel car, so it's at least moved beyond the lab.

[Alex Haas @ Feb 22nd 2008 1:13PM]

Digg!!

http://digg.com/tech_news/Upstart_Solazyme_promises_to_make_fuel_from_algae

[E71 @ Feb 22nd 2008 1:32PM]

That looks delicious.

[Curtis the Claw Game Master @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:19PM]

Why do you feel the need to say "Digg!!" on every single story on engadget? It's really annoying, feel free to stop now.

[Craig B. @ Feb 22nd 2008 1:23PM]

Whatever happened to those efforts to create,I can't remember offhand, I think it was hydrogen from algae? They would starve the algae for oxygen, and it would emit hydrogen? I had read that the efficiency wasn't horrible, either, but I may just be making that up. It was some CA professor started a company that did this. What ever happened to it, does anyone know?

[Dorf @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:31PM]

You can't starve Algae!! The People for the Ethical Treatment of Algea (or PETA for short) will be all over you!!!!

[alphadog @ Feb 22nd 2008 4:37PM]

Algae are people too!!

[moschops @ Feb 23rd 2008 3:48AM]

Maybe there were other companies, but Solazyme were working on hydrogen generation before bio-diesel (as Google of "solazyme hydrogen algae" will confirm). I suspect plastic bags wouldn't really scale to the volume they need for industrial production, handy for lab use though.

[Flashpoint @ Feb 22nd 2008 1:38PM]

If this alternative energy device fails, it might be still able to make the best god damn milkshake in the history of man.

[JFTICH @ Feb 22nd 2008 3:37PM]

Um... WTF? You want to grow algae by feeding it sugar, according to the article right? Wouldn't it just make sense to take a step out and make ethanol straight from the sugar rather than the extra step. DO they get 20lbs of algae from 1 pound of sugar? I hope so!

[Justice @ Jun 28th 2008 9:19PM]

I think when they say "sugar" they mean various sources, and not necessarily table. Other stuff that wouldn't necessarily be a high demand food source, as they showed in the vid.

[nathan.wong @ Feb 22nd 2008 1:42PM]

This was in Popular Science MONTHS ago. Sounds really, really promising.

[William @ Feb 22nd 2008 1:54PM]

that was a different company, they grew their algae in bags in sunlight, not in the dark.

[Jake @ Feb 22nd 2008 1:49PM]

The secret ingredient? People.

[Zal @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:08PM]

MMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmm.... Soylent Green.

[John @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:04PM]

Is Dr. Kio Marv a member of their staff?

[Axyl @ May 10th 2008 11:01PM]

HA HA HA! not funny try harder to make a lame joke next time
PS- 300 sequel search it up before you make fun of someone

[BigD145 @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:35PM]

Algae is a good source of all kinds of things. It's easy to Grow and there's a heck of a lot of it on this planet. Too bad we're killing our oceans. You know, the place algae lives.

[idiot @ Feb 22nd 2008 5:11PM]

"Testing Agreement"="Will Never Hear From Again"

[Jon @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:37PM]

They do this over at Umass , right down the street from me

[friendlyner @ Feb 22nd 2008 4:04PM]

I think algae is the single most promising technology for energy production. It's really amazing how fast it grows, and how it eats waste. Algae thrives on sewage and co2 emissions. I especially like how running a factory emission line through an algae farm dramatically cuts down on emissions and feeds the algae for free.

Every time I read something about using corn for ethanol production I feel stabby. It doesn't make much sense to strain a food source when algae does the same thing on less real estate and consumes waste instead of fertilizer.

I guess it's because there are no algae lobbyists.

[Ian @ Feb 22nd 2008 4:18PM]

i agree with you, but it could be because people dont know about it and dont understand how something like algae could be nearly as good as corn. plus also corn is in use now while algae still hasnt been set up to be able to use right away

[Poom @ Feb 23rd 2008 12:30AM]

I totally agree with you. I think it's because corn farmers are over-subsidized in the US though...

[Frank @ Feb 22nd 2008 4:37PM]

well, at this point it may be quite illustrative that we all use biofuel from algae EVERYDAY!
it's actually our crudeoil which originates from algae.
for the Open Source lovers: algOS
(www.oilgae.com)

but I guess in the USA there are probably about 5 (maybe 6) people who care about the environment...

[stitifier @ Feb 22nd 2008 4:44PM]

Obviously not since these people ostensibly got funding.

[colbpa @ Feb 22nd 2008 5:04PM]

This was in National Geographic a few months back. It's an interesting concept

[Zoltan @ Feb 22nd 2008 5:28PM]

Technology to grow algae to produce oils has been around for a long time, as has technology to grow algae in the dark (i.e. heterotrophic growth). The hard part is doing it economically. Heterotrophic algae are essentially identical to bacteria physiologically, except slower growing. They tend to require an enormous amount of glucose, which comes from...drumroll please...CORN!!!

[Mark @ Feb 22nd 2008 5:54PM]

Chevron's involved??...don't count this to come to market then...

[ether @ Feb 22nd 2008 6:57PM]

Chevron has everything to gain from backing an additional alternative resource for fuel. Just because they start producing fuel with algae it'll still be 20 years before it's widely available with wide use and even then there likely will be still more regular gas and diesel stations outside of major cities so it's not really impacting them making money. Ultimately they could probably make more money selling biofuels than oil due to the low operating costs and lack of politics/war/etc that impact their business with limited fossil fuels.

There's still not a high percentage of consumer cars out there that can run on it. But once legislation passes in enough states once it's wide-spread...Chevron will be the one ahead of the game and you can be sure they're going to buy these small companies once they see it being the solid direction along with all the other oil companies. This is the generation where global intolerance for not expanding technology to be more beneficial for us and the planet is going to be everywhere in every country, the old boys are going to simply have to accept it and change or watch these small companies pull a Google and run them over.

[Justice @ Jun 28th 2008 9:19PM]

Seems that I recall something about their algae having carbon sequestering properties as well. I believe it was on National Geo I saw this too. They had some really big trasparent canisters bubbling CO2 from the back side of a power plant in Arizona or somewhere. Could be another strain.

[dajimmers @ Feb 22nd 2008 6:00PM]

Growing algae in the dark? Seems an odd thing for a company called "SOLAzyme" (my emphasis) to do...

[Dan @ Jun 3rd 2008 5:40PM]

I think that this is something Hillary and Ohbama need to be pushing. I have made BioDiesel from used cooking oil and had wonderful results. I would be interested in partnering up with someone to make Bio from this. I have looked into the possibility of building a photo bioreactor and when I ran across this, it crushed that Idea. I want to obtain some of that algae so I can start growing it and making my own fuel. If anyone knows where I can find some let me know. I would assume that It would be hard to get some of that algae because of the breakthrough, but if I am wrong please let me know.

[Justice @ Jun 28th 2008 9:23PM]

Seems that I recall something about their algae having carbon sequestering properties as well. I believe it was on National Geo I saw this too. They had some really big trasparent canisters bubbling CO2 from the back side of a power plant in Arizona or somewhere. Could be another strain.