Just recently, the U.S. was reminded why we need to kick the fossil fuel habit.  The hurricanes in the Southwest shut down oil refineries and made all types of fuel hard to get and expensive.  Five companies specializing in creating alternatives to fossil fuels are looming on the horizon.

The companies are Amyris, Petrosun, Solazyme, Green Fuel Technologies, and Sapphire Energy.  Each of these companies has created fuel using bio synthesis.  Essentially, each of these companies has genetically modified an organism so that it makes fuel as part of its biological process.

Amyris has modified yeast so that it will produce diesel fuel, gasoline and jet fuel.  The technique that Amyris uses “makes it possible to alter the metabolic pathways of microorganisms such as yeasts, creating living factories that produce molecules with practical applications.”  This technology requires the same type of feedstock (sugarcane and cellulose) used to make ethanol and other biofuels.

Solazyme, Sapphire Energy, Green Fuel Technologies, and Petrosun all use algae as the basis for their fuel production.  By using algae, these companies are able to produce a wide variety of fuels that don’t contain sulfur, and don’t need anything more than CO2, sunlight and water to manufacture the fuels.

Like the modified yeast that Amyris uses, the algae used by Solazyme, Sapphire Energy, Green Fuel Technologies and Petrosun is genetically modified so that the algae produces the required fuel products.

Using Algae has several positive side effects.  Except for water, sunlight, and carbon dioxide, no other ingredients are required.  This means that corn, soy, and sugarcane can be used as food rather than to create fuel.  The only land needed is that land that houses the algae greenhouses.

Solazyme is focused more on the science behind fuel production and has patented a number of different genetically altered marine microorganisms and methods for creating medical products and other types of energy as well as new methods of producing chemicals.  Algae is just one of the many microorganisms that they have modified.

Petrosun’s algae has been modified to produce biodiesel, ethanol and bioplastics.  Green Fuel Technologies uses algae to “recycle CO₂ from smokestack, fermentation, and geothermal gases.”  The algae harvested from this recycling is then turned into biofuel, ethanol or feed.

Sapphire Energy has modified algae so that the company can produce fuel that meets the current standards for diesel fuel and gasoline.  Sapphire’s fuel would be compatible with current fuel refineries, automobile and truck engines and methods of distribution.

Each of the five companies has its own specialty and method of producing some type of fuel for vehicles.  Most of the companies produce biodiesel or ethanol, but Sapphire Energy produces green fuel that works just like gasoline.

As with so many early startups, the best one may not be the one that ultimately survives.  Luck, the infusion of money at the right time, and a process that requires little to no modification in current infrastructure will be the deciding factors in the success of any of these ventures.

All of these processes will release us from our dependence on fossil fuels.  Those processes that use algae would also free us from using food resources as feedstock for the fuel to run our cars and trucks.  Sapphire Energy, if it can ramp up its production quickly, may be the best of the five because its fuel doesn’t require modification of our fuel infrastructure or our car and truck engines.

Bill Gates has invested in Sapphire Energy and hopefully that means that we will be seeing “green fuel” soon.

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Entry was posted on Thursday, November 13th, 2008 at 5:08 pm under Auto, Green Technology, Science and technology, Technology.

Read more entries by Susan Wilson.
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