Florida Company Expects Much from Algae

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Global Bioenergy Industry News

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

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Florida Company Expects Much from Algae

FLORIDA, US - A profile of PetroAlgae, which licenses technology to produce green diesel, gasoline and jet fuel functionally identical to petroleum-based fuels. The company's technology has been licensed for use in Asia and its founders see a good future for the business.

PetroAlgae Inc. expects to rake in their first revenue this year after opening shop in 2006, according to Florida Today. And that, they say, is merely skimming the surface of the dividends algae could deliver as an energy source.

"Everyone in the world knows that we need to replace petroleum," John Scott, PetroAlgae's director and chairman, said. "What comes out of our process is real diesel, but it's renewable. We will be commercialising this year."

Their milestone came in March, when the company with 140 employees announced GTB Power Enterprise of California had signed a licensing agreement to use PetroAlgae technology to build and operate 10 facilities to grow algae for oil and biomass in China, Taiwan and on the Japanese island of Yonaguni.

PetroAlgae officials would not disclose the specific amounts involved in the deal, but their marketing material says the licence fees during construction are near $100 million and annual royalties thereafter are more than $10 million.

The deal could make PetroAlgae the first of about 200 start-ups to commercialise algae for fuel and protein on an industrial scale.

As worldwide governments demand a certain percentage of their energy come from sources other than fossil fuels, PetroAlgae could ride the wave of an international algal boom, analysts say.

The company licenses technology to produce green diesel, gasoline and jet fuel functionally identical to petroleum-based fuels.

Their process can yield about 5,000 gallons of fuel per acre yearly, company officials said. At that rate, about 19,000 square miles – an area equal to about 80 percent of West Virginia – could replace the entire 60 billion gallons of petroleum diesel currently used in the US.

Their top selling points are that algae grow much faster than biofuel stocks such as corn or soy, while it does not require farmland or deplete a food source.

Unlike fossil fuel diesel, there is no sulphur dioxide pollution. The carbon dioxide emitted is what the algae absorbs from the air, not what is unlocked from fossil fuels after eons underground. This makes algae-based diesel 'carbon-neutral'. Micro-crop fuels such as algae consume about double their weight in carbon dioxide as they grow.

They also use much less water than macro-crops such as corn. Processing petroleum also requires huge volumes of water during drilling and extraction. PetroAlgae's system recycles 95 percent or more of the water used to grow micro-crops, company officials said.

How it works

The Florida Today article continues that licensees would build about 12,500-acre facilities. They would use indigenous algae and other tiny aquatic plants, including diatoms, angiosperms and cyanobacteria. PetroAlgae has identified 150 species that work in their system.

The algae and other plants grow in 2.2-acre open ponds, called bioreactors.

Sensors measure water temperature, wind, humidity, algae concentration and harvest rates. From a control room, PetroAlgae staff can change the rate of harvest in the 20-by-20-foot cells within the bioreacators. A special infrared camera scans the algae layers, indicating when best to harvest to maximise growth rate in the cells.

The algae and other microorganisms are skimmed, screw-pressed and separated into a carbohydrate-rich solid and protein-rich liquid.

The leftover solid 'mash' can be taken to an oil refinery to make a diesel fuel compatible with the fuel sold at existing gas stations and fuel depots.

Leftover at the algae farm is a valuable high-protein feed that can fortify foods for animals or humans.

"The protein is actually more valuable because it covers the cost of the production of the fuel," Ottmar Dippold, the company's CEO, said.

Will Thurmond, president of Emerging Markets Online, a consulting firm in Houston, agrees. He recently authored 'Algae 2020', an analysis of the market potential.

"What I learned is that algae is a lot more profitable as a protein supplement than it is as a fuel," Mr Thurmond said.

He is sceptical about the short-term prospects for algae as fuel, which he still sees as several years away.

He says fuel from algae costs $10 to 30 per gallon. "Until the cost of production gets down below $3 per gallon, algae will not be economically viable," he said. "It’s going to take some time with algae to get the economics right."

PetroAlgae told Florida Today that the time is now. The value of the protein feed they create and the rate and scale at which they grow microcrops make their method cost-competitive with petroleum diesel, they say.

But Dr Thurmond said PetroAlgae's biggest asset right now is its knowledge. "They have some smart scientists, engineers and inventors on their staff," he said.

At the helm

PetroAlgae's founders are both physicists with ties to NASA. John Scott was a National Research Council fellow at the space agency. Ottmar Dippold, a long-time Indialantic resident, served as team leader for the design of next generation optical systems for the US Air Force and NASA.

PetroAlgae taps those NASA ties. The company leases environmental simulation chambers at the Kennedy Space Center that NASA built in the 1970s to study how a future station on Mars might grow lettuce and other food. The metal closet-like chambers allow PetroAlgae to control temperature and other factors to study ideal conditions for algal growth.

Interest in growing algae bloomed last month when Exxon Mobil announced a $600 million investment to make oil from algae in partnership with the firm Synthetic Genomics in La Jolla, Calif. The firm's founder, J. Craig Venter, is best known for helping decode the human genome. After the announcement, PetroAlgae's stock jumped from about $8 to almost $35 and within days dipped right back down. As of Friday, it hovered at about $12.50.

There have been other recent milestones.

In 2007, the Energy Independence and Security Act set a renewable fuels standard at 36 billion gallons per year by 2022 and 200 billion gallons by 2020, guaranteeing domestic demand. The military also wants to develop algae as fuel to guard against war scenarios where they get cut off from petroleum supplies.

The Navy plans to test an algae-fueled F/A-18 Super Hornet by next summer, running on jet fuel based on the algae, jatropha and camelina, Aero News reported last week.

But algae start-ups face a tough economic headwind, analysts say. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Greenfuel went under in May, after eight years of trying to commercialise algae.

Shortly after, Mr Scott issued a letter to shareholders to ease concerns and emphasise how PetroAlgae stands apart.

"For our partners and customers, PetroAlgae will be the engine behind local opportunities for 'green jobs'," he wrote. "In fact, we anticipate that a standard commercial facility will generate the need for approximately 1,200 individuals spanning a wide variety of expertise."

Mr Thurmond of Emerging Markets Online sees algae as the best feedstock for weaning the US from foreign oil.

"We're not going to get there with soy beans," he told Florida Today. "Of all the things I looked at, algae was the only thing that could completely replace imported fuel.

"PetroAlgae is one of five companies out of about 200 that has a facility that’s larger than one acre," he added. "We're just getting started with algae."