Algenol Works With Mexican Government for Algae Ethanol Commercialization

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To see the face of the future of alga ethanol, one would only need to look toward Algenol, the sole company that has discovered how to make the alternative fuel. Although macro-algae (seaweed) has been fermented for hundreds of year, Algenol has invented a method of fermenting micro-algae, something no one else has discovered and making them true innovators in their field. Through an agreement with Biofields, Algenol has been working towards producing this viable fuel for the past fifteen years, and has found a way using a non-toxic, abundant algae and salt water -- something producers of biodiesel cannot do.

Grown within bioreactors, Algenol uses the blue green algae--better known to the science world as cyanobacteria--saltwater, sunlight, and essentially yeast to "bubble [ethanol] out of the air. It's a natural distilling process."

"We look for two things: [an alga's] ability to produce energy and to ensure that they aren't toxic," explained Smith for Algenol's move to use cyanobacteria. "We modify the algae to produce ethanol where it traditionally produces biodiesel."

"We have a billion gallon facilities in four stages. It's taken fifteen plus years, and the ultimate goal is to get this extremely independent of the niche market," said Smith. "We are anticipating production by the end of this year. [Our algae ethanol] will be commercial this year, and [we will] hopefully acquire land in [the U.S. in] 2009 and early 2010."

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