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December 3, 2009
Solazyme was awarded a $22 million grant from the Department of Energy to validate the projected economics of a commercial scale biorefinery producing multiple advanced biofuels. This project will produce algae oil that can be converted to oil-based fuels.
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September 9, 2009
Solazyme won an $8.5 million contract with the Navy to produce 20,000 gallons of algae fuel for testing and certification that could be used in Navy ships.
The South San Francisco-based cleantech startup uses genetic engineering to stimulate algae to produce oil that the company has shown to run automobile and jet engines, among its other uses. The company says the fuel has lower emissions than that produced from fossil fuels and can be used in the same engines that now run on fossil fuels without any modifications.
"(The military) wants new fuels that meet the old petroleum specifications and reduce carbon dramatically and can be produced domestically at the same time," said Jonathan Wolfson, CEO of Solazyme Inc.
"This is an important first step with algae oil derived alternative fuels," said Kim Huntley, director of the Defense Energy Support Center, which awarded the Solazyme contract. "Not only are we helping the Navy meet its energy security and alternative fuels objectives, this contract also demonstrates the continued successful partnering of DESC with our warfighter customers to help them meet their emergent energy needs."
The Defense Energy Support Center is an arm of the Defense Logistics Agency, which helps branches of the military and other federal agencies with a wide realm of logistics and support services. It's based in Fort Belvoir, Va.
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June 8, 2009 (from earth2tech.com)
Despite the slow demise of algae fuel company GreenFuel, investors are still pumping money into algae-based fuels. The latest recipient is Solazyme, which uses synthetic biology to produce algal-derived fuels in dark, closed fermentation tanks. The company said this morning that it has raised a total of $76 million, including $57 million in a Series C round.
The news broke last August that Solazyme had raised a $45.4 million Series C, but the company now says that the C round was extended. The latest funding comes from Braemar Energy Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, VantagePoint Venture Partners, The Roda Group and Harris and Harris Group. That's the first time I've seen VantagePoint Venture Partners listed on Solazyme's backer list. (VantagePoint has invested in capital-intensive companies like Better Place, BrightSource Energy and Tesla.)
Algae fuel is showing itself to be more expensive and further from commercial production than many investors had previously thought, though clearly some, like Solazyme's backers, are still bullish. GreenFuel's processes proved too costly (and there were management issues), and the company officially shut down, despite millions from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Polaris Venture Partners and Access Private Equity. Robert Rapier, a skeptic of certain biofuels, writes an interesting critical review of this book, "Green Algae Strategy: End Oil Imports And Engineer Sustainable Food And Fuel," this morning and points out that there are some serious technical hurdles for algae fuels that he doesn't think will be necessarily solved.
Solazyme itself has been around for six years and hasn't yet reached commercialization. The South San Francisco, Calif.-based company has said it hopes to build a commercial plant by 2010, and says all of the Series C will go towards commercializing the company's algae fuel technology. Solazyme's intellectual property resides in the DNA of the algal strains that the company engineers. It grows this designer algae in fermentation tanks without sunlight by feeding it sugar, and uses existing industrial equipment to extract the oil.
Solazyme has made some strides that could put it ahead of competitors. The company has a development deal with Chevron and says it was the first algae producer to be approved for the jet fuel standard of the American Society for Testing and Materials for its algae-based jet fuel. But a particularly tough competitor is algae gorilla Sapphire Energy, which was just founded in 2007, and says it is ramping up its production estimates to 1 million gallons of algae-based diesel and jet fuel per year by 2011 just two to three years from now.
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April 22, 2009
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A study undertaken by Life Cycle Associates, LLC, using the Argonne National Laboratories GREET model, concluded that full lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from field-to-wheels for Solazyme's algal biofuel, Soladiesel(TM), are 85 to 93 percent lower than standard petroleum based ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD). The analysis also reveals that Solazyme's advanced biofuels result in a significantly lower carbon footprint than any currently available first-generation biofuels.
"Solazyme's advanced biofuels substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions per mile driven over petroleum-based fuels and result in much lower carbon emissions than currently available first generation biofuels. Lower process energy inputs combined with the production of algae derived feed results in much lower GHG emissions than currently available first-generation biofuels," said Stefan Unnasch, President of Life Cycle Associates, LLC. "With findings like these, we are confident that algal-biofuels have the potential to play a significant role in alternative fuels and are excited that such a promising technology is in commercial development."
Additionally, testing undertaken by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) ReFUEL laboratory shows that Solazyme, Inc.'s SoladieselBDTM significantly outperforms ULSD in total Hydrocarbons (THC), Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Particulate Matter tailpipe emissions. This includes an approximately 30 percent reduction in particulates, an approximately 20 percent reduction in CO and an approximately 10 percent reduction in THC.
"Solazyme is committed to working with the most rigorous and well-respected external experts to independently validate the real-world environmental benefits of our technologies. Part of our mandate is to ensure we are producing products that will meet our growing energy needs in an effective, green and highly-sustainable way," said Jonathan Wolfson, CEO of Solazyme. "Solazyme's Soladiesel(TM) can exploit a wide variety of non-food feedstocks including cellulosics to achieve up to a 93 percent reduction in GHG emissions. We are very pleased with the findings by both NREL and Life Cycle Associates and look forward to playing a significant role in providing the clean, renewable fuels of the future."
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October 2008
San Francisco-based Solazyme Inc. recently raised $45.4 million through investors that include Braemar Energy Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Harris & Harris Group.
The Series C funding will be used for the company's expansion and growth in producing biodiesel from algae oil on a commercial scale. Solazyme also has an agreement with Chevron USA Inc. to develop and test biodiesel feedstocks. The company's proprietary process grows algae in closed fermentors rather than photobioreactors or ponds used by most other algae producers.
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September 9, 2008 (from greentechmedia.com)
The algal-oil maker announces plans to target the jet-fuel market, and says it aims to reduce production costs to $40 to $80 per barrel in a few years.
Solazyme said Tuesday it has developed an algal-based jet fuel that passed a rigorous test by a major independent lab, an accomplishment that the company will use to enter the jet-fuel market.
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The announcement marked the first time Solazyme discussed the jet-fuel market publicly, which has attracted a slew of companies developing fuels using a variety of plants, from jatropha to soybeans (see Weed to Power New Zealand Jets). Solazyme previously talked about selling its algal oils to biodiesel, food and cosmetic makers.
The South San Francisco, Calif.-based startup just raised a $45.4 million Series C round, although the company doesn't plan to disclose how it will spend the money until later this year, Harrison Dillon, president and chief technology officer of Solazyme, told Greentech Media.
"We are continuing a lot of work on bringing down the cost of making oil and using our oil as raw materials for all different types of products," said Dillon, adding that the company's algal oil will likely first appear on the cosmetic market in less than a year as an ingredient in anti-wrinkle products. Soon after the cosmetic-market debut, Solazyme expects to see its product in edible oils.
Commercializing aviation fuels will likely take a lot longer. The jet-fuel market presents a lucrative opportunity as rising crude-oil prices pressure airlines to look for alternatives. Fuel costs account for about 40 percent of the airline industry's expenses, according to John Heimlich, vice president and chief economist at the Air Transport Association of America.
But so far, airlines such as Virgin Atlantic have only carried out limited test flights with blended fuels made partly from seeds such as jatropha. The airlines, along with jet makers such as Boeing, also have shown interest in algal biofuels. In fact, Virgin, Continental and Air New Zealand joined the Algal Biomass Organization earlier this year (see Algae-Based Biofuel Could Prep for Take Off).
Solazyme sought to validate its jet fuel by sending samples to the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, in recent weeks. The lab tested the density, thickness, freezing point and other elements of the samples, which passed muster to meet the ASTM D1655 standard for aviation turbine fuel.
The result will enable the company to start marketing its algal oil to refinery operators and airlines, Dillon said. He said the company will work on further developing its manufacturing process to reduce production cost.
Solazyme believes it can make algal oil cheaper than crude oil, which brings in more than $100 per barrel these days. The startup aims to reduce its production cost to $40 to $80 per barrel in two to three years, Dillon said. He declined to disclose the current production cost.
The startup, founded in 2003, has developed a process for harvesting oil from algae grown in the dark. Instead of relying on the sun for energy, the algae feed on sugar (see Green Light post). The company has identified natural strains that thrive in the dark and also is engineering its own strains, Dillon said.
Solazyme's technology sidesteps problems related to growing algae in ponds and under the sun, the company said, although skeptics contend that the process might cost more in the long run than using the sun's energy, which is free.
Other companies developing algal jet fuels include PetroSun, Chevron and a new Arizona State University spinoff.
Unlike other biofuel companies that plan to develop and refine their products for the wholesale market, Solazyme primarily focuses on developing and producing algal oil. If the company plans to enter the refinery business, it would likely produce biodiesel, Dillon said.
"Biodiesel is a straight-forward process, so it's conceivable we would have a biodiesel manufacturing factory. But I wouldn't say we are building or buying a biodiesel refinery," Dillon said.
Making plant-based jet fuels in large, commercial quantities remains a major challenge for all biofuel companies, not just those producing algal oils.
Solazyme grows and harvests oil from algae at its headquarters and facilities outside of the United States. Dillon declined to disclose the locations of these production centers outside of the country, but said the company picked them because of the cost of leasing the facilities.
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