Contents
Overview ............................................................................................................................................................... 4
Sources and Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... 4
A Few Conclusions ............................................................................................................................................ 5
Concerns ........................................................................................................................................................... 9
Market Opportunity: Vast ............................................................................................................................... 11
The Current Field ............................................................................................................................................ 11
Prize Capital’s Algae Fuel Prize ........................................................................................................................ 13
Algae Basics ........................................................................................................................................................ 16
Biology ............................................................................................................................................................ 16
Algae Research History ................................................................................................................................... 17
The Business of Algae ......................................................................................................................................... 18
Process Overview ........................................................................................................................................... 18
1. Siting............................................................................................................................................................. 20
2. Strain Selection ............................................................................................................................................ 20
3. Cultivation .................................................................................................................................................... 21
4. Harvesting and Dewatering/Drying ............................................................................................................... 24
5. Extraction ..................................................................................................................................................... 25
6. Conversion ................................................................................................................................................... 26
7. Policy and Regulatory ................................................................................................................................... 26
8. System Integration ....................................................................................................................................... 28
Algae Production Costs .................................................................................................................................. 30
Fuel End-Products ............................................................................................................................................ 35
Non-Fuel Benefits/Revenue Possibilities of Algae ............................................................................................... 35
CO2 Reduction (not sequestration) ................................................................................................................. 35
Protein Feed Market ...................................................................................................................................... 38
Wastewater Bio-remediation .......................................................................................................................... 39
Company Overviews ........................................................................................................................................... 41
Sapphire Energy ............................................................................................................................................. 42
Solazyme ........................................................................................................................................................ 47
Algenol ........................................................................................................................................................... 51
PetroAlgae ...................................................................................................................................................... 55
Aurora ............................................................................................................................................................ 59
Solix ................................................................................................................................................................ 63
LiveFuels ......................................................................................................................................................... 66
Seambiotic ...................................................................................................................................................... 70
Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................................... 73
Appendix A: Biofuels ........................................................................................................................................... 74
Appendix B: Ethanol and Biodiesel Feedstocks and Conversion Technologies ................................................... 79
Appendix C: The Challenges to Cellulosic Ethanol ............................................................................................... 82
Glossary .............................................................................................................................................................. 85
About Greener Dawn Research ........................................................................................................................... 87
Disclosures .......................................................................................................................................................... 88