Exxon to Invest Millions to Make Fuel from Algae

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The Oil giant Exxon Mobile to plans to announce an investment of $600 million in producing liquid transportation fuels from algae. The biofuel effort involves a partnership with Synthetic Genomics, a biotechnology company founded by the genomics pioneer J.Craig Venter.

“Algae is the ultimate biological system using sunlight to capture and convert carbon dioxide into fuel,” Dr. Venter said. 

Algal biofuel, sometimes nicknamed oilgae by environmentalists, is a promising technology. Fuels derived from algae have molecular structures that are similar to petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, and would be compatible with the existing transportation infrastructure, according to Exxon.

Exxon’s investment includes $300 million for in-house studies and “potentially more” than $300 million to Synthetic Genomics “if research and development milestones are successfully met,” Exxon said.

Source: The New York Times

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