Solazyme, the San Francisco- based company claimed that they provided about 1500 gallons of algae-based jet fuel , infact 100 percent algae-based fuel to the U.S. Navy. So, I was actually wondering what is so special about it that the\u201d U.S. Navy\u201d is after it.<\/p>\n
Solazyme as you might be aware grows algae in the dark, they feed their engineered algae with agricultural and industrial biomass and grow it in a fermenter, the algae oil is then extracted from the fermenter and subjected to further treatment to produce fuel, chemicals and more.<\/p>\n
Below is an interview between Harrison Dillon, founder of Solazyme who explains the whole story behind delivering\u00a0 algae-jet fuel to the U.S. navy.<\/p>\n
You just delivered 1,500 gallons of 100 percent algae-based jet fuel to the U.S. Navy. Can you walk me through how you make fuel out of algae?<\/strong><\/p>\n The way our technology works is we feed biomass to algae in a fermentation process. So it works in the dark, using big steel tanks.<\/p>\n I\u2019m picturing a brewery. <\/strong><\/p>\n Yes, but 100 times bigger than that.<\/p>\n You put the biomass, which is sugar, into the steel tanks and infuse our algae. The algae converts the sugar into crude oil. The process takes a few days, then we pull the algae out of the tank. At the beginning the algae has no oil, but then it consumes the sugar, converts it to oil and stores the oil in its cells. So you take the algae out and dry it, and 80 percent of it is oil. That\u2019s a big metric people use when you\u2019re cultivating a microbe. If your product is only 8 percent oil, for instance, that\u2019s not very efficient.<\/p>\n Then we take the oil in a tanker truck to a regular oil refinery. One of our philosophies is to do things that are compatible with existing structures. We can go into large-scale fermentation factories and go to existing refineries.<\/p>\n Harrison Dillon and a refinery worker sampling a vial of the jet fuel from the tanker truck of 1,500 gallons that was sent to the Navy.<\/p>\n Where does your alga come from?<\/strong><\/p>\n These are unicellular organisms. We spent years screening thousands of strains of algae to find the one that is most efficient at producing oil. There are a lot of sources for these algae, including some companies that sell the strains. Anyone could find these strains, but it\u2019s pretty technical to [do what we\u2019re doing].<\/p>\n How long has this process taken\u2014figuring out how to make jet fuel?<\/strong><\/p>\n The company is seven years old. The process with the tank and growing the algae has been in development for about four years. Before that, we spent a few years growing the algae in ponds using sunlight, and we realized that would never work. The cost of making a gallon of oil by growing algae in the sun is about $1,000 a gallon. We knew you could make oil that way, but you\u2019re multiple decimal points off where you want to be.<\/p>\n We observed the process of feeding biomass to yeast to make ethanol, which is about $2 a gallon. So we realized if we fed it to algae, we could use that same process to make oil. That\u2019s when we switched the approach.<\/p>\n The Navy has 19 rigorous requirements for renewable hydro-treated jet fuel. What are some of these?<\/strong><\/p>\n It needs to have a certain density because there\u2019s not a lot of room on a jet. There\u2019s a measurement of how much energy per gallon, and obviously you want more energy per gallon. There are flashpoints, or freezing points, because it\u2019s very cold in the sky. You have to be above a certain freezing point. The standards are pretty stringent.<\/p>\n How is this kind of jet fuel different from the fuel we\u2019d use in our cars?<\/strong><\/p>\n The process of refining our oil into jet fuel isn\u2019t fundamentally different than refining our oil into diesel fuel. You\u2019re just tweaking the process a little to make the two products. The density of jet fuel is actually a little lower than diesel because if you drop the density you can keep it from solidifying at cold temperatures.<\/p>\n Do any changes need to be made in the aircraft to support this fuel?<\/strong><\/p>\n You don\u2019t need new engines, new pipelines or new gas pumps. We have to make the fuel meet every single fuel standard the Navy has so it can be used as a 100 percent drop-in replacement.<\/p>\n Now that the fuel has been delivered, what happens?<\/strong><\/p>\n They\u2019ll test it in laboratories. They\u2019re not going to put it in a plane to test it. And in the next few weeks we\u2019ll be delivering the rest of 20,000 gallons of diesel fuel, which will be used for ships.<\/p>\n Was security driving the Navy\u2019s decision to use your fuel, or was it cost?<\/strong><\/p>\n The U.S. military is the largest single user of petroleum in the would. There\u2019s an important aspect of national energy security. You can use a renewable biomass like sugarcane, produce this oil, refine it into fuel and provide it to a military base, and you\u2019re completely independent of the global supply chain of oil. So if there\u2019s a disruption in the supply chain they can continue to make the fuel for their ships and jets.<\/p>\n But if [the Navy] didn\u2019t think we could manufacture these fuels at a cost equal to or lower than petroleum-based fuels, they wouldn\u2019t be interested. We will be able to make oil $60 to $80 a barrel within two years, and we\u2019re not much higher than that now.<\/p>\n Are other branches of the military on board with this fuel?<\/strong><\/p>\n The Air Force is certainly interested in these fuels as well. The Navy has a goal to operate at least 50 percent of its fleet on clean, renewable fuel by 2020. The Navy has led the way in putting a bold target out there and getting this program up and running.<\/p>\n How did this arrangement with the Navy come about?<\/strong><\/p>\n We went to the military to pitch this to them about two years ago, and they said to us, \u201cIt sounds great, but every biofuel company in America has come through here telling us the same story. So if you really want to do this, you have to make fuel and not just show us a PowerPoint.\u201d<\/p>\n So at our own expense, we made a barrel of fuel and sent it to them. They said, \u201cYou\u2019re the only company that has made us the fuel. Let\u2019s do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Has the Navy promised you a flight in a jet using your fuel?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019d love to fly in a fighter jet. But no promises have been made.<\/p>\n Key Takeaways from their conversation:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n According to Solazyme,<\/p>\n\n