The Promise of Algae Fuel Rests on Big Oil | earth2tech.com

By Katie Fehrenbacher Posted September 4th, 2009 at 12:00 am in Biofuels

In the world of big oil balance sheets, Exxon’s decision to invest $600 million into an algae fuel deal with startup Synthetic Genomics is kind of like oil finally agreeing to take algae out on a date. While it’s definitely a first step in a relationship, who knows how long they’ll be dating or if they’ll ever get married? When it comes down to making algae fuel cheap enough to produce at a scale on par with petroleum, however, it’s becoming increasingly clear that big oil will play a fundamental role.

During a recent trip to the lab of algae fuel firm Solazyme — one of the leaders in the space, founded in 2003, with almost $80 million in venture capital backing — the startup’s CEO Jonathan Wolfson told us “We will likely commercialize our technology with a big oil partner.” Wolfson added “it’s delusional to think that companies with that amount of scale and trillions of dollars of infrastructure won’t play a key role.”

Solazyme already has a development deal with oil giant Chevron,(s CVX) announced back in January 2008, which likely helped pave the way for the newer deals between Exxon and Synthetic Genomics, as well as BP and algae developer Martek. Wolfson says that he expects Solazyme to be able to commercialize its technology in the 2012-2013 time frame, with a production cost target at $60 to $80 per barrel. The company is looking outside the U.S. — including sites in South America — for its first commercial plant.

At this point, Wolfson says the company can’t yet produce algae fuel at a low enough price to bring it to commercial and petroleum fuel scale — an admission I found pretty refreshing considering a lot of the algae fuel hype in the industry. But Solazyme is darn close to those metrics, says Wolfson. Currently the company is already producing thousands of gallons of algae fuel in pilot phases (see photo) and is in the process of commercializing algae-based goods like cosmetics, soaps and foods.

But of course the key hurdle to scaling up to commercial phase is the sheer cost of building a commercial-scale plant — “over $100 million,” says Wolfson. And given the economic climate over the past year, it’s been very difficult to raise project financing for such risky and expensive projects. That’s one obvious way for an oil company to get involved: put up the commercialization capital. Another way oil companies can aid algae fuel developers is lending their existing infrastructure. Solazyme makes a renewable diesel product that can be used in diesel distribution and pumps, so clearly piggybacking on big oil is a lot less capital intensive way to deliver fuel than building those networks on its own.

Something’s gotta give — despite what all the media attention, eager startups and investors in the algae fuel industry would lead you to believe, there are no companies I’ve heard of that are producing and selling algae fuel at a commercial scale yet. Robert Rapier suggests as much in a piece called Renewable Fuel Pretenders this week, which is similar in theme to my idea of biofuel makers as “chronoptimists,” or someone who constantly underestimates the time it takes to complete a task (chronologically optimistic.)

The devil is in the details for producing algae fuel economically at a commercial scale, and at this point the details are screaming that it’s just way too expensive right now to produce at a similar scale to the petroleum fuel industry’s millions of barrels. If algae fuel is ever going to get to that scale, it’s looking like that big oil will lead the way.

via The Promise of Algae Fuel Rests on Big Oil.

Exxon Mobil to Invest in Oilgae | Energy Business Daily

Exxon Mobil to Invest in Oilgae
The international oil giant Exxon Mobil, whose chief executive had been infamous for mocking ethanol, one of the alternative energies as “moonshine,” is poised to enter in the field of biofuels. Exxon is going to announce investment of $600 million in producing liquid transportation fuels from algae — organisms in water found from pond scum to seaweed. They plan to tie up with Synthetic Genomics, the biotechnology company founded by the genomics pioneer J. Craig Venter.

The agreement is likely to address a major flaw in the strategy of the world’s largest and richest oil company, which had hitherto been criticized by environmentalists for being indifferent to global warming and also being reluctant to develop renewable fuels.

According to one of its prominent research analyst, despite the infamous “moonshine” remark a few years ago by its chairman and chief executive, Rex W. Tillerson, the company has spent many years exploring various fuel alternatives.

Vice President Emil Jacobs at the R&D of Exxon’s research and engineering unit stated that they have looked at every option keeping in mind several parameters, especially scale as if one is unable to scale up a technology then one should not get involved at all according to him. He added that it is easier said than done as production of algae-based fuels in commercial scale is still 5-10 years from now.

Environmentalist are definitely going to question the company’s sincerity and commitment considering Exxon’s huge profits from petroleum in the recent years. Kert Davies, research director at Greenpeace agrees about the need for new products in the market but doubts about the sincerity of big oil companies to put substantial efforts. Exxon’s move into biofuels, so far the preserve of venture capital and biotech firms, is likely to be a shot in the arm for the US administration.

Presently nine percent of Envi liquid fuel is derived from corn-based ethanol. Congress intends to push it up to the level of 36 billion gallons by 2022.

Being tricky, Mr. Tillerson’s skepticism about development of biofuel is not unfounded. Corn-based ethanol due to its low energy content and dubious environmental record had been the subject of severe criticism from many quarters. Exxon’s estimate is algae will yield yearly about 2,000 gallons of fuel per acre of production compared to 650 gallons for palm trees, 450 gallons for sugar canes and 250 gallons for corn.

Exxon’s tie up with Synthetic Genomics has also boosted the work of Dr. Venter, known for decoding the human genome in the 1990s, who has been working to find micro-organisms to turn in to fuel. In Dr. Venter’s opinion algae is the ultimate biological system capturing sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into fuel.

Algal biofuel aka oilgae by environmentalists, is a promising technology as fuels extracted would have same molecular structures like petroleum products including gasoline, diesel and jet fuel which will be compatible with present transportation infrastructure which has been proven by an algae-based fuel powered test flight by Continental Airlines.

Pentagon has also evinced interest in alternative fuels like algae to reduce its oil dependency.

Although cost-effective mass production is still far, algae’s advantages over other biofuels in growing them in areas unsuited for food crops or in brackish water or even sea water is considerable. Possibility of algae cutting down greenhouse gases is enormous. Exxon along with Synthetic Genomics plans to pioneer a genetically modified variety to absorb huge quantity of carbon dioxide like those emitted by power plants.

Exxon’s plans investment of $300 million for in-house studies and another $ 300 million for successfully meeting research and development milestones. Although a modest sum considering Exxon’s earning of $45.22 billion last year, the companies are projecting their partnership as a long-term R&D effort with possible investment running into billions.

via http://energybusinessdaily.com/oil/alternative-fuels/exxon-mobil-to-invest-in-oilgae

Joule Biotechnologies Introduces Revolutionary Process For Producing Renewable Transportation Fuels

Two years into development, innovative startup enables path to energy independence; Unveils proprietary production system capable of supplying unlimited quantities of renewable fuel at costs competitive with fossil fuels

Cambridge, Mass.—July 27, 2009—Joule Biotechnologies, Inc., an innovative bioengineering startup developing game-changing alternative energy solutions, today unveiled its breakthrough Helioculture™ technology—a revolutionary process that harnesses sunlight to directly convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into SolarFuel™ liquid energy. This eco-friendly, direct-to-fuel conversion requires no agricultural land or fresh water, and leverages a highly scalable system capable of producing more than 20,000 gallons of renewable ethanol or hydrocarbons per acre annually—far eclipsing productivity levels of current alternatives while rivaling the costs of fossil fuels.
 
“There is no question that viable, renewable fuels are vitally important, both for economic and environmental reasons. And while many novel approaches have been explored, none has been able to clear the roadblocks caused by high production costs, environmental burden and lack of real scale,” said Bill Sims, president and CEO of Joule Biotechnologies. “Joule was created for the very purpose of eliminating these roadblocks with the best equation of biotechnology, engineering, scalability and pricing to finally make renewable fuel a reality—all while helping the environment by reducing global CO2 emissions.”

Joule’s transformative Helioculture process leverages highly-engineered photosynthetic organisms to catalyze the conversion of sunlight and CO2 to usable transportation fuels and chemicals. The scalable SolarConverter™ system facilitates the entire process—from sunlight capture to product conversion and separation—with minimal resources and polishing operations. This represents a significant advantage over biomass-derived biofuels, including newer algae- and cellulose-based forms, which are hindered by varying obstacles: costly biomass production, numerous processing steps, substantial scale-up risk and capital costs.

The modular SolarConverter design is engineered to meet demand on a global scale while requiring just a fraction of the land needed for biomass-based approaches. It can be easily customized depending on land size, CO2 availability and desired output. The functionality is proven and can readily scale from smaller operations with limited land to extensive commercial plants. Additional benefits enabled by the system include:

• Multiple Product Lines—The same conversion technology and modular system used to produce SolarFuel liquid energy will also enable the production of SolarChemical™ products, several of which have already been demonstrated at laboratory scale.

• Optimal Storage of Solar Power—Because Joule harnesses the sun to produce energy in the form of liquid fuel, it overcomes a major obstacle to the broad-based use of solar power, namely storage. SolarFuel liquid energy has up to 100 times the energy storage density of conventional batteries, and can be very efficiently stored and transported with no degradation of power.

“Today’s leading scientists and engineers have been called upon to solve one of the greatest challenges of our time: how to take promising theories and turn them into real, impact-making strides towards energy independence,” said Noubar Afeyan, founder and chairman of Joule Biotechnologies. “Joule is doing exactly that—creating an entirely novel solution that combines the best of solar energy and biofuels, while eliminating their respective weaknesses. The result is a system that can operate at very large scale and provide efficient conversion and storage of solar power without relying on fossil or agricultural products as raw materials.”

Joule SolarFuel liquid energy meets today’s vehicle fuel specifications and infrastructure, and is expected to achieve widespread production at the energy equivalent of less than $50 per barrel. The company’s first product offering, SolarEthanol™ fuel, will be ready for commercial-scale development in 2010. Joule has also demonstrated proof of concept for producing hydrocarbon fuel and expects process demonstration by 2011.

About Joule Biotechnologies
Joule Biotechnologies, Inc. is tackling the global energy crisis with a game-changing, renewable alternative to fossil fuels. Its patent-pending Helioculture™ technology surpasses the limitations of other clean fuel approaches by harnessing sunlight to convert CO2 directly into SolarFuel™ liquid energy. This direct-to-fuel conversion requires no fresh water and just a fraction of the land needed for biomass-derived alternatives, avoids costly intermediaries and processing, and finally enables the scale, unlimited quantities and pricing required for energy independence. Founded in 2007 by Flagship Ventures, Joule is privately held and headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Additional information is available at www.joulebio.com.

via Joule Biotechnologies Introduces Revolutionary Process For Producing Renewable Transportation Fuels.

Is the Future of Biofuels in Algae? – Renewable Energy World

12 June 2009

Is the Future of Biofuels in Algae?

by Jamie Donovan and Ned Stowe, EESI

Washington, DC, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]

As America tries to wean itself off of fossil fuels, it is turning to renewable sources of energy such as wind, solar, hydroelectric and biomass. The transportation industry relies almost entirely on petroleum, and it accounted for almost 30 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2006. Transportation is the fastest growing source of GHG emissions, according to the U.S. EPA.

Alarmed by high fuel prices, a costly dependence on imported oil and rising GHG emissions, Congress passed the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) in 2005 and strengthened it in 2007, under the Energy Security and Independence Act.   The law requires biofuel production to climb from 9 billion gallons in 2008 to 36 billion gallons in 2022. Of the 36 billion gallons, no more than 15 billion gallons can be corn-based ethanol, the remainder being advanced biofuels that meet at least a 50 percent GHG reduction requirement.

Algae has emerged as a promising feedstock for future biofuels due to its high energy content, energy yield per acre, fast growth and ability to grow in water of varying quality.  Algae’s potential, at least in theory, is remarkable.  According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), algae may be able to produce 100 times more oil per acre than soybeans—currently the leading source of U.S. biodiesel—or any other terrestrial oil-producing crop.  Because of its high energy content, oil from algae can be refined into biodiesel, green gasoline, jet fuel or ethanol.  Lastly, algae need only water, sunlight and CO2 to grow.  And, it grows rapidly.   

That said, cultivating algae on a commercial scale is no easy task.  The industry is still testing a wide variety of methods for growing algae — open ponds, closed bioreactors or other processes.  Bioreactors have proven to be most effective in producing high quality algae at the fastest pace, but they are expensive, and experts such as John Benemann, who has over 30 years of experience in microalgae biofuels, question whether they are economically feasible for commercial scale production (See John Benemann, “Opportunities and Challenges in Algae Biofuels Production,” Sept. 2008).  Open ponds, which Benemann says account for 98 percent of commercial algae biomass production as of 2008 (including algae grown for nutritional products), are significantly cheaper, but are susceptible to contamination by native algae species, evaporation, and usually produce lower energy density algal oil. 

Sapphire Energy, a leading California-based Algal biofuel company that has raised over $100 million in capital, is investing in developing open pond methods.  The company plans to produce “green crude” oil that can be refined into fuels that are chemically indistinguishable from petroleum-based jet fuel, gasoline and diesel, and therefore, will require no special distribution infrastructure or engine modifications.  In a recent press release, the company reports that it will be producing 1 million gallons per year of diesel and jet fuel by 2011, and 1 billion gallons per year by 2025—equal to 3 percent of the RFS mandate. 

Solazyme, another of the better-financed algae biofuel companies, claims to be on track to become economically competitive in 24 to 36 months, according to this report. They have a unique closed pond technology where sugar is used as algae feed.  A recent study, using Argonne National Lab’s GREET model, concluded that the “full lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from field-to-wheels for Solazyme’s algal biofuel, Soladiesel, are 85 to 93 percent lower than standard petroleum based ultra-low sulfur diesel,” according to an April 29 Solazyme press release. 

More recently, Origin Oil announced it has developed a new process to extract oil from algae in a single-step.  A time-lapse video, available on the company website, shows the oil rising to the water’s surface as the algae falls.  “Origin Oil plans to rapidly commercialize the patent-pending process for use by others in the fast-growing algae industry” the company said in a press release.

Despite industry optimism, many challenges remain.  It is unclear if current lab experiments and pilot programs can be scaled up.  Other technical challenges exist, according to a recent fact sheet from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), including: identifying oil-rich algae varieties; identifying processes for the economic extraction of oils from algae and identifying commercially viable “co-products.”  The cost of producing algae-based fuels remains exorbitant.  Beyond the technical challenges, issues such as land- and water-use will need to be addressed going forward if algae is going to make a sizable contribution to the liquid fuels market. 

Many in the industry admit algae cultivation simply for biofuels may not be profitable by itself.  Biodiesel Magazine reports that the industry is beginning to take advantage of markets for additional high-value co-products such as nutraceuticals, fertilizers and the biomass waste product as a cellulosic ethanol feedstock.   

Overcoming today’s obstacles means investing in research and development.  The federal government is also looking into algae as a potential source of fuel — again.  The National Renewable Energy Laboratories (NREL) has restarted its algae research program that was abandoned in 1996 after nearly thirty years in existence.  NREL has partnered with Chevron to develop algae strains that can be economically harvested and processed into transportation fuels.  DARPA is also looking into the use of algae as an alternative source for jet fuel.  

The military and airlines are increasingly interested in algae because it can produce “drop-in” jet fuel that meets the specific requirements of aviation that ethanol cannot. Both are searching for a reliable, non-petroleum-based, climate-friendly fuel. In fact, algae has already been used in test flights conducted by a number of international airlines including Continental. Their research and development efforts could be instrumental in overcoming the challenges to commercial production.  Testifying before the House Committee on Science and Technology, Billy Glover of The Boeing Company predicted renewable jet fuels would be commercialized around 2015 with Jatropha, Camelina and halophytes as the primary feedstocks in the near term and algae in the long term.

Jamie Donovan is an intern and Ned Stowe is a policy associate with the Sustainable Biomass and Energy Program at the Environmental and Energy Study Institute.

This article originally appeared in the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) newsletter and was reprinted with permission.

via Is the Future of Biofuels in Algae? – Renewable Energy World.

All of a sudden… algae is everywhere | BBC.co.uk, 09 Oct 2008

All of a sudden… algae is everywhere
Susan Watts Thu 9 Oct 08, 05:36 PM
bbc.co.uk

There are all sorts of companies springing up offering algae as a universal cure-all, from jet fuel for aeroplanes, to a means of cleaning waste water and even as a new food source.

What’s behind this growing fascination with algae is the promise of wealth, but with lower carbon emissions than traditional black gold. Oh, and algae can help fix climate change too.

If we grow fresh algae, this takes carbon in from the atmosphere, rather than releasing the carbon that is safely locked away in fossil fuels until we burn them.

Algae enthusiasts claim the production and burning of algal oil is a cycle that’s close to carbon neutral, and urge the world to take algae seriously as we work out how to tackle climate change, food shortages and diminishing oil reserves.

My journey into the world of algae began with a trip to the less glamorous end of town in San Francisco. In an off-beat industrial park, housed in a former ice-cream factory, a company called Solazyme is banking its future on algae.

Formed by two college friends 5 years ago, Solazyme showed us a sealed flat-pack bag of the dried algae they believe holds the key to carbon neutral fuel. They asked us not film the sample because its colour might tell competitors the type of microalgae they’re using.

They walked me round the labs where they’re experimenting with algae samples from all over the world. They tweak some of these algal strains, genetically engineering them to thrive on wood. The wood takes carbon out of the air, the algae eat the carbon as they grow in fermenters, and the algal oil that results has just been certified as good enough to match conventional diesel and jet fuel.

The US military is interested and the company has raised a total of $45m in investment capital. They also claim to be talking to governments and airlines keen on algal oil.

One selling point for algal oil is that it doesn’t have to be grown on land so doesn’t compete for space with food production. In fact, Solazyme swears that the algae it doesn’t turn into oil is good enough to eat. I tried their brownies made with algae instead of egg…and they weren’t as bad as I was expected!

And there are other signs that this is moving beyond the research phase. A company called AlgaeLink is producing algae in greenhouses using CO2 emissions taken from a nearby power station. They claim to be producing 20 times more biofuel per hectare than conventional biofuel crops, and on non-agricultural land.

They also produce food for animals and fish and beauty products from the algae that isn’t turned into oil. The firm has a tie-in with KLM/Air France to develop a jet fuel.

And there are other more long-standing algae advocates. Harry Hart has been writing to the BBC for a dozen years about a plan to save the world with algae that he hatched decades ago. It’s all based on the incredible power of microalgae to grow fast, doubling in biomass in just a few hours with very few nutrients.

Mr Hart’s utopian vision of feeding and fuelling the world on algae appears wildly ambitious at first sight. But in some ways he has been ahead of the curve that entrepreneurs like Solazyme and AlgaeLink are now riding.

We sent our intrepid camera man who proved so resilient on Newsnight’s Arctic Adventure, George Pagliero, to meet Harry at his home in Bury-St-Edmunds.

Harry is mistrustful of the traditional capitalist approach that’s bringing algal oil to the market and sniggers at the idea of genetically engineering algae when they naturally do what he says we need – draw carbon out of the atmosphere. He sees this carbon as a source of wealth that could replace our oil-based economies.

Put simply, his plan is to take algae, grow them in controlled ponds in a mixture of salt and fresh water. The algae draw down huge quantities of carbon from the air as they grow and convert it to biomass – which we then either eat, or burn as fuel.

All this would take place in enclosed systems designed so that no climate-changing CO2 or methane gas escapes. He talks about building algal ponds on barren land, growing food where people are hungriest. You can have a look at his website here.

Harry was inspired decades ago when he worked as a cameraman filming the starving. He and a like-minded team have been working for years on versions of this scenario. They even persuaded a team at the agricultural research centre at Rothamsted to let a group of A’level students try out some of their ideas over the summer.

All this might sound far-fetched, but interest in algae is booming. There’s even an algae trade group – the Algal Biomass Association – set up, they say, to promote commercially-viable transport and power generating algal fuels. They’re holding their second annual algal biomass summit in Seattle this month if you want to know more..!

‘Oil from algae’ promises climate friendly fuel ¦ guardian.co.uk, July 31 2008

‘Oil from algae’ promises climate friendly fuel
Alok Jha, green technology correspondent guardian.co.uk, Thursday July 31 2008 12.09 BST

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/31/biofuels.travelandtransport

New start … the company’s website promoting green crude made from algae

A liquid fuel made from plants that is chemically identical to crude oil but which does not contribute to climate change when it is burned or, unlike other biofuels, need agricultural land to produce sounds too good to be true. But a company in San Diego claims to have developed exactly that – a sustainable version of oil it calls “green crude”.

Sapphire Energy uses single-celled organisms such as algae to produce a chemical mixture from which it is possible to extract fuels for cars or airplanes. When it is burned, the fuel only releases into the air the carbon dioxide absorbed by the algae during its growth, making the whole process carbon neutral.

Major investors are already opening their cheque books: Sapphire has raised a total of $50m (£25m) in venture capital in recent weeks, the highest amount ever for an algae biotech company, including a significant investment from the UK’s Wellcome Trust.

Algae are seen by many experts as promising a source of green fuel in the future: ranging from single-celled organisms to large seaweeds, they are the world’s most abundant form of plant life and, via photosynthesis, are extremely efficient at using sunlight and carbon dioxide from the air to make organic material such as sugars, proteins and, under the right conditions, oils.

Yusuf Chisti at Massey University in New Zealand estimates that algae could produce almost 100,000 litres of biodiesel a year per hectare of land, compared to 6,000 litres a hectare for oil palm, currently the most productive biofuel.

Listen to Alok Jha explaini the story Link to this audio The money for Sapphire came flooding in after the company recently reached its most significant milestone yet, refining high-octane gasoline from their green crude. “The resulting gasoline is completely compatible with current infrastructure, meaning absolutely no change to consumer’s cars,” said a Sapphire spokesperson.

An added advantage is that their gasoline does not have contaminants such as sulphur, nitrogen and benzene that are contained in standard crude oil and the company believes the cost of their fuels will be comparable to standard fossil fuels on the market.

Many biotech companies around the world are working on using algae to produce ethanol or biodiesels that could replace traditional transport fuels while avoiding the problems raised by traditional crop-based biofuels, such as displacing food crops. A Sapphire spokesperson said that, with algae, there was no need to use valuable farmland to grow the basic resource. “In fact the process uses non-arable land and non-potable water and delivers 10 to 100 times more energy per acre than cropland biofuels.”

Where Sapphire departs from other algae companies is that their aim is not to produce standard biofuels such as ethanol or biodiesel. Instead, they take their inspiration from the way crude oil was created in the first place, millions of years ago.

“Way back when, when the algae were responsible for creating the long-chain hydrocarbons like diesels and heavy oils, the biomass just got buried and compressed and formed crude oil,” said Steven Skill, a researcher in how algae can be used to make organic chemicals at Plymouth Marine Laboratory and who is familiar with Sapphire’s work. “Algae synthesise these long-chain hydrocarbons within the cells.”

Sapphire would not reveal details of the type of algae they are using but Skill thinks it is probably using genetically-modified cyanobacteria, which used to be called blue-green algae. These organisms can grow quickly (some blooms can double their mass in just an hour), operate in high temperatures and some strains can even fix nitrogen from the air to make their own fertilisers.

“Sapphire claim they can engineer whatever they like now on the strain of algae they’re working with,” said Skill. The next step, he said, depended on developing the engineering and cultivation systems to grow the algae economically.

Commercial production

John Loughhead, executive director of the UK Energy Research Centre, said that research on algae was a crucial part of the work to develop green energy sources in the future. “I’d say it’s a very sound idea but the question is, are they able to do anything practical in an efficient way? The key questions are the efficiency with which this process happens.”

He added: “They also have the classic renewables problem in that you’re dealing with the ultimate energy source, the Sun, which is quite diffuse, so you’re only getting in peak conditions around 0.5KW per square metre. You need vast, great big farms.”

Algae can easily be grown in open ponds, but these result in very low-density blooms and are therefore an inefficient way to produce lots of fuel. Skill said that Sapphire would need advances in technology called photobioreactors to make a successful leap to commercial production.

Photobioreactors are closed vessels that would provide plenty of light and carefully tuned conditions that could intensively grow the microorganisms. Several teams around the world are testing designs for growing algae in them but none have so far made it to market.

Also crucial to making the green crude commercially viable is to use the byproducts other than oil from the algae. “You can probably derive 40% of the algae’s weight in oil and you’ve got 60% of other stuff and there’s a lot of valuable components in that in terms of chemical feed stocks.”

These extra ingredients, which include fats, sugars and proteins, could be used for animal feeds or even as replacements for other petroleum products used in everything from cosmetics to plastics.

Sapphire said it expects to be at a stage of commercial production of green crude within three to five years. Geoffrey Love, head of venture capital at the Wellcome Trust, said the investment was made with this in mind. “There was already in place a very strong scientific and management team.

“They’d already made milestone-based progress to proving they could make not just biodiesel, which plenty of other companies out there can do, but proper crude oil.”

He added that the biomedical charity had its own scientific diligence work done before making the investment and that the backing of another investment group that Trust often worked with, Arch Ventures, swung their own decision.

Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace UK, said: “We urgently need to find ways of consigning the fossil fuel economy to history. Algae could offer promise, but to get a real grip on what this technology could offer we need far more information at our fingertips.
“The crucial requirement is that the end product can be produced in large quantities in a sustainable way, otherwise we’re simply jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.”