Algae Farm in Mexico to Produce Ethanol

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Monday, June 16, 2008

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Algae Farm in Mexico to Produce Ethanol

MEXICO - Rather than squeeze algae for its oil, like other companies are proposing, Algenol wants to turn each algae cell into a tiny ethanol factory.

Artists impression of an algae biofuels plant.

The Maryland-based company said that business partner BioFields has licensed its technology and committed US$850 million to build a salt water algae farm in the Sonoran Desert in northwest Mexico, with production scheduled to begin next year.

BioFields paid over US$100 million to license Algenol's technology according to Algenol CEO Paul Woods.

He said the ethanol produced at the farm will cost US$1 less per gallon (28 Australian cents per litre) than current US petrol pump price of about US$4 per gallon.

Algenol's technology was first developed in the mid 1980s. It was not until the crude oil price hit US$50 a barrel in 2006 &mdash it is currently over US$135 a barrel &mdash that Woods stepped up efforts to commercialise it.

The company chose from a collection of 10,000 strains of algae and used molecular biology to enhance certain traits. Specifically, company engineers enhanced certain algaes' ability to make sugar and, through their enzymes, to ferment sugar into ethanol.

There are a number of companies developing technology to grow algae and convert it into fuel, typically biodiesel. The algae is grown in tubes, plastic bags, or open ponds and then harvested and pressed for its oil. Some companies propose taking the leftover biomass and burning it or using it as animal feed.

Algenol's process is very different in that the algae are not cultivated. Instead, algae produce ethanol in gas form that is siphoned off from the bioreactor tubes and condensed to a liquid, Mr Woods explained.

TheBioenergySite News Desk