Solazyme succeeds at creating jet fuel from algae
Bio-powered flight is not the exclusive dream of San Francisco startup Solazyme. There have bee recent bio-flight advancements from Virgin Airlines, which flew from London to Amsterdam using biofuel in February, and the BioJet I. But Solazyme announced it has reached a small milestone that could make greener flying easier for everyone: it has created jet fuel from algae. This new bio-jet fuel source is not up for mass production quite yet. The first test batch was just 5 to 10 gallons, but the company said that it "had passed eleven tests necessary for use in aviation" at the Southwest Research Institute (a list of those tests is available from Solazyme). Should Solazyme's jet fuel become popular with airlines - and it might, if the company's estimate that the algae fuel would be price competitive with $40- to $80-per-barrel oil - then "potential output will only be limited by the availability of feedstock."
Earlier this year, Solazyme drove an algae biodiesel-fueled car at Sundance
[Source: SFGate, Solazyme]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
CanaDoc 10:52AM (9/11/2008)
Oh Lordy, "potential output will only be limited by the availability of feedstock." the biofuel kiss of death. You'd hope the media would be sensitive to these issues by now and word these things less controversially. As per the Solazme website:
"The process can employ a variety of non-food feedstocks, including cellulosic materials such as agricultural residues and high-productivity grasses including bagasse and switchgrass as well as industrial byproducts such as crude glycerol."
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gorr 11:28AM (9/11/2008)
I think that the best feedstock for algae growing, like i saw on many experiences is co2 from big chimney or simply from the air. Then there is sewage. These feedstocks are available day to day contrary to the feedstock of solazyme.
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