Algae Biofuel Companies

[biofuel]

My response to your questions:

1) How certain are we that algae, not cellulosic ethanol, is the way to go (corn and other crops are obviously a cruel joke, but is it clear that algae is the best base, definitely ahead of cellulosic forms)?

- I can't say that algae is the best way to go, only that it is one of the most promising. It can yield ethanol and biodiesel, thus not much modification to existing infrastructure is needed. It's yield in terms of gallons per acre is far more than any food crop. It can vary from 4,000-10,000 per acre gallons and maybe even more as technology improves. It takes CO2 out of the atmosphere and exchanges O2 in return (thus a source for carbon credits), and much more. So the potential for it to replace petroleum is going to be sought after by any company who can commercialize it.

2) What are the biggest obstacles to commercialization of algae biofuels?

- Cost. Controlling the parameters for algae growth is essential for controlling cost of production. The technology exists in many forms, but it all factors down to who can yield the most oil at the least cost. Almost all the companies have done a small scale demonstration and production, but none at commercial scale and thus none have really factor all the costs of commercial production. Many companies will be in the process of building commercial plants in 2009. I believe it will be a learning process for many of these companies and also not a guaranteed success.

3) Given that you and NavyPilot have been surveying the field and gathering resources for some time, can you point us towards a few co's -- 2,3, or 6 of them -- that seem to you, at this early stage, to have the greatest promise for cost effective and easily ramped up production strategies?

I haven't come up with a detailed list yet, but I have an idea of who the promising ones are. I really can't comment on who has the greatest promise for cost effectiveness because each company has technology that is proprietary and yet none has proven commercial scalability. But one factor to consider is based on funding because available funding can give the companies enough room for flexibility to adjust their technologies to control their costs. I have not researched all the companies, but the ones on my watch list that appear to be well funded and/or are in the process of building commercial plants are:

Algenol Biofuels
Aquaflow Binomic Corporation
GreenFuel Technologies
Green Star Products
Sapphire Energy
Solazyme
Solix Biofuels

Again, I have not researched all the companies and the companies listed above are not guaranteed to recieve funding or have proven technology.