(USA)
ExxonMobil and Synthetic Genomics are working together to produce thousands of barrels of algae biofuel every day by 2025.
The pair have been collaborating to create oil from algae since 2009. And in an announcement made today they spelled out their research plans to develop the technical ability to produce 10,000 barrels a day by the middle of the next decade. The research will include an ‘outdoor field study’ where ‘naturally occurring algae’ will be grown in contained ponds in California.
“We are excited to take this next significant step as we journey together toward a renewable, scalable, and low-carbon biofuel. The progress we are making in the lab toward engineering highly efficient algae strains that convert sunlight and CO2 into renewable high energy density biofuel is exciting and warrants continued research about how our technology will scale. Our outdoor algal facility creates a perfect stepping stone from our labs to the greenhouse and to the outdoors to lay the foundation for a large scale commercial deployment of our technology in the future,” said Oliver Fetzer, CEO at Synthetic Genomics.
The wonder of algae features regularly on Innovators Magazine – as something we reckon can do pretty much anything.
