Company Name Greenfuels Technology Corporation	Company Web Site http://www.greenfuelonline.com/	Headquarters Cambridge, MA
Latest News May 14, 2009 (from xeconomy.com) Cambridge, MA-based GreenFuel Technologies, which struggled for eight years to commercialize an industrial-scale process for growing algae that could be turned into biofuels or food, is closing down for lack of financing and selling off its technologies. Greentech Media broke the story earlier today. Duncan McIntyre, an associate at Waltham, MA-based Polaris Venture Partners, which participated in several venture rounds that raised more than $70 million for GreenFuel, told Greentech that the company could not raise the funds needed to build planned test facilities in Spain. "We are closing doors. We are a victim of the economy," McIntyre told the publication. Xconomy is seeking comment on the reported closure from GreenFuel CEO Simon Upfill-Brown. But Bob Metcalfe, a Polaris partner who was GreenFuel's interim CEO prior to Upfill-Brown's hiring and is its current board chairman, confirmed the shutdown in an e-mail message. "Simon Upfill-Brown and Holly Flesh [the company's vice president of business operations] are now working to sell GreenFuel's technologies," he wrote. "You could help by sending potential buyers their way." GreenFuel's ride was a bumpy one. The company built its first field bioreactor, using specially bred strains of algae to capture carbon dioxide emissions and rapidly convert them into biomass through photosynthesis, at MIT in 2004. In 2005 the company hired energy industry veteran Cary Bullock as CEO to lead efforts to scale up the process. But in 2007, the company had to shut down its third-generation bioreactor facility in Arizona after the plant produced more algae than the company's equipment could handle. At the same time, the company learned that its algae harvesting system would cost twice as much as expected. Some 25 employees, about half the company's staff, were laid off as a result of the plant shutdown. Metcalfe relieved Bullock as CEO after the setback, and spent the next year coordinating cost-cutting efforts, raising cash, restarting the Arizona bioreactor, rounding up strategic partners, and recruiting new leadership. Things seemed to be looking up for the company by mid-2008. In March of that year the company signed a deal with Spanish cement maker Aurantia that was expected to bring up to $92 million to the company. (Cement plants are a huge source of carbon dioxide.) New CEO Upfill-Brown joined in July, and the company obtained additional Series B funding and began work on a fourth-generation algae bioreactor in Cambridge. By October, GreenFuel had finished the first phase of its work at the Aurantia plant, a 100-square-meter prototype greenhouse and harvesting operation. A 1,000-square-meter facility was to be ready by 2010, and the company was beginning to collect some of the funds promised by Aurantia. But the startup was hit hard by the economic crisis and by the decline in petroleum prices from their 2008 peaks, which took much of the bloom off the biofuels rose. Upfill-Brown was not able to raise a Series C investment round on the timetable that he and Metcalfe had originally projected. In January, the company laid off 19 people again, just under half of its staff and decided to outsource the design and engineering work on the Aurantia project. "We've got to weather this economic storm as best we can& " Upfill-Brown told Bob at the time. But he said he was optimistic about the company's direction: "We pretty much feel GreenFuel is ahead [of other biofuels companies]& We're going to keep plugging away, stay ahead." Apparently, the company could no longer keep its head above water. Which could become an increasingly familiar story as biofuel startups none of which have come close to producing ethanol or other fuels at prices comparable to those of fossil-based fuels burn through their cash and look to empty-handed investors for additional capital rounds. ---------------- October 21, 2008 Biofuels company GreenFuel Technologies said it is moving forward on a 247 acre project in Spain that will grow algae for use in fuel, as well as food and animal feed. The company is partnering with Spain's Aurantia SA on the $92 million venture at the Holcim cement plant near Jerez, Spain, where they plan to build greenhouses producing 25,000 tons of algae biomass per year. Aurantia said the project could be eligible for subsidies from both regional authorities and the central government, which will partially offset its development costs. "We believe algae hold great promise for Spain as they can be harvested daily, rather than seasonally, use water very efficiently and do not require arable land like other crops," Rafael Naranjo, Aurantia Group's chief executive and chairman, said in a statement. GreenFuel Technologies Corp. said it has successfully grown a variety of naturally occurring algae strains in Jerez using Holcim flue gases. The second phase of the project began with the successful inoculation and subsequent harvests of a prototype vertical thin-film algae-solar bioreactor. The next phase involves building algae greenhouses and harvesting facilities. "Algae are a very promising solution to diminishing oil reserves, escalating oil and food prices and climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions," Simon Upfill-Brown, GreenFuel's chief executive, said in a statement. ------------------- October 21, 2008 GreenFuel Technologies Corp., a Cambridge company that seeks to commercialize algae farming technologies that recycle greenhouse gas emissions, today announced the second phase of a project to develop and scale algae farming technologies in the Iberian Peninsula. The initiative is a joint project with Aurantia SA, which specializes in such fields as municipal solid waste treatments, landfill degasification, combined heat and power plants, and sea water desalination plants. The joint project seeks to demonstrate that industrial CO2 emissions can be economically recycled to grow algae for use in high-value feeds, foods, and fuels, GreenFuel Technologies said. The project started in December at the Holcim cement plant near Jerez, Spain. GreenFuel Technologies said in a press release, "The Aurantia-GreenFuel project at Holcim consists of a series of development stages that could eventually scale to 100 hectares of algae greenhouses producing 25,000 tons of algae biomass per year." "Algae are a very promising solution to diminishing oil reserves, escalating oil and food prices and climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions, a fact that is underscored by our growing partnership with Aurantia," GreenFuel Technologies chief executive Simon Upfill-Brown said in a statement. "The project at Holcim with Aurantia is a significant milestone in our strategy to commercialize GreenFuel's algae farming technology. In fact Aurantia has already identified several thousand hectares of land in the Iberian Peninsula suitable for the deployment of GreenFuel's technology." ----------------------
Funding (October 2005) Cambridge, MA-based GreenFuel Technologies Corporation, a privately held company providing emissions-to-biofuels conversion services to power plants and industrial facilities, recently announced it has closed a Series B investment round totaling $11 million. According to GreenFuel, the Series B syndicate, which is headed by lead investor Draper Fisher Jurveston with a $6-million stake, includes Series A investors contributing $3.9 million, as well as several individual investors together providing $1.1 million.
Technology A GreenFuel algae farm is designed to produce a number of products including algal oil, delipidated algal meal (DAM) and dried whole algae (DWA). The algal oil is suitable for conversion to biodiesel and can be substituted for any other vegetable oil (soy, palm, jatropha) in a commercial biodiesel production plant. The DAM and DWA are suitable for a wide variety of animal feed applications. Different species of algae generate different amounts of oil. GreenFuel has focused on several algae species that contain approximately 25% of their weight as oil. Under our base design, oil production from the algae farm is estimated at over 5,500 gallons per acre per year. This compares to palm oil at 500, soy at 90, and corn (in the form of ethanol) at 350 gallons per acre per year. CO2 consumption is based on the overall lipid/protein/carbohydrates balance of the final algae. Lipids are typically about 75% carbon by weight, with carbohydrates approximately 40% carbon by weight, and proteins between the two. GreenFuel algae is approximately 50-55% carbon by weight; about 1.9 times the biomass weight in CO2 is required to generate algae with this composition. If algae with a higher lipid content is produced, that ratio will be higher; the higher the carbohydrate composition, the lower this ratio. Based on information in the US Energy Information Administration 2006 power plant database, for the approximately 500 power plants in the US that generate and sell electricity as their primary business and use coal as the primary power source, the average facility nameplate size is 655 megawatts. For this 'average'plant, when both the power plant and algae farm are in full operation, approximately 3400 hectares of algae growing area is required to consume 40% of CO2 emissions. To achieve a 5.2% reduction in CO2 emissions, which is comparable to the 2008-2012 Kyoto Protocol overall goal, 420 hectares of algae growing area would be required for the same 655 megawatt plant. Because GreenFuel's algae farm is a closed system, overall water use is minimal and evaporation losses are limited. Some water is required for the photosynthesis reaction, and some is lost in the creation of algal products. Where available, water may also be used for system cooling based on site-specific dependencies.
Other Info What does GreenFuel do? GreenFuel uses a portfolio of technologies to profitably recycle CO2 from smokestack, fermentation, and geothermal gases via naturally occurring species of algae. Algae can be converted to transportation fuels and feed ingredients or recycled back to a combustion source as biomass for power generation. When was GreenFuel founded? GreenFuel, a privately held, venture-backed firm, was founded in 2001. Why is GreenFuel focusing on algae instead of other energy crops like corn? Algae have some advantages to other energy crops*, specifically: * Algae are the fastest growing plants in the world and can be grown year round, unlike seasonal crops. * Algae farming does not require agricultural land or clean water, so it does not compete with food crops for these resources. * While it is difficult to compare one energy crop to another, per hectare of land algae is more productive than corn, soy or palm. * Unlike other energy crops, the entire biomass produced from algae can be used in end products. * Lastly, the algae produced by GreenFuel can be used to produce renewable biofuels needed to reduce dependence on non-renewable fuel sources such as coal, oil and natural gas. Does GreenFuel believe that algae are the solution to the world's energy problems? GreenFuel believes that ecological and energy issues are complicated and will require a variety of solutions -- of which algae will be one. Is GreenFuel now growing algae at commercial scale? Not yet. GreenFuel expects to achieve commercial scale (a minimum of 100 hectares = 1km^2 = 247 acres) in the next few years. Does GreenFuel sell fuel made from algae? No. GreenFuel grows and harvests algae to produce byproducts such as dry whole algae and algae oil that can be used for feed stock and biodiesel fuel, among other products. Biofuel producers will purchase algae oil from GreenFuel. How does GreenFuel make money? GreenFuel partners with power plants such as Arizona Public Service Company (APS), Arizona's largest electric utility company, to build algae farms that recycle industrial CO2 emissions to grow algae. GreenFuel harvests the algae to produce dry whole algae, algae oil and delipidated meal - byproducts that are sold to producers of feed stock, biodiesel fuel and other products. GreenFuel may also generate revenue from carbon credits for its algae farms, but the revenue potential is small compared to other algae-based products. What about claims that algae production will never be economical? GreenFuel's extensive economic analyses and cost estimates show that algae can be grown economically as a commercial product. Many estimates claiming that algae are not commercially viable use outdated economics for product values that are no longer valid, or assume use of initial generations of experimental technology that have since been upgraded. Will GreenFuel's algae farms be used for CO2 capture and sequestration? No. While algae can be used for this purpose, it is expensive to sequester CO2. Instead, GreenFuel uses algae to recycle CO2 emissions and produce products that can be sold to producers of feed stock and biofuels. Does GreenFuel have any partners with which it is proceeding to commercial scale? Yes. GreenFuel has partnered with motivated experts with whom we share our technology to develop commercial projects. GreenFuel will make more detailed announcements about our partnerships as our partners are ready to do so. What are some of the host facilities at which GreenFuel has installed its technology? To date, GreenFuel has had successful pilot installations at: * MIT Cogen, MA * APS Redhawk, AZ * NRG Dunkirk, NY * Sunflower Electric, KS * NRG Big Cajun, LA * APS Four Corners, NM