Joule Solar Fuel

While producing biofuels from feedstock has drawn heavy criticism, much money and research is being put into next generation biofuels. The world’s largest oil company, Exxon Mobil, that has shunned other forms of renewable energy, has poured billions into next generation biofuel R&D.

One of the most exciting innovations in this field is Joule, a Massachusetts based company.

Joule produces biofuels by mimicking photosynthesis. Their SolarConverter, that facilitates the production process, contains a mixture of brackish water, nutrients, and genetically engineered organisms. Carbon dioxide gas is fed into the mixture, and the device is designed to expose the organisms in the mixture to the sun. The organisms are photosynthetic, meaning that they absorb light energy and carbon dioxide to form compounds. Joule has engineered its organisms to secrete ethanol and hydrocarbons and chemicals.

The organisms mimic photosynthesis and uses sunlight and carbon dioxide to produce liquid fuels and chemicals. According to the company they can produce up to 20 000 gallons (75 700 litre) per acre per year. They are also price competitive with oil at around US $50 per barrel.

Cellulosic biofuels made from wood or grass and algae-based methods reduce water and land needs, but they are currently more expensive than fossil fuels or have yet to become commercially viable.

Another company doing similar work to Joule is Amyris. Amyris uses synthetic biology to create microbes that metabolize sugar and churn out long hydrocarbon chains that are better known as diesel fuel.

Original article: Kevin Bullis. Technology Review. 27 July 2009. Read more…

Amyris Renewable Diesel

If you could dream up a renewable fuel, it might look a lot like diesel: far more energy intensive than ethanol and combustible in existing engines with no performance tradeoffs. But it would give off a fraction of the emissions of conventional diesel. That’s just what scientists Jack Newman, Kinkead Reiling and Neil Renninger, co-founders of Amyris Biotechnologies, concluded when they decided to apply their synthetic-biology expertise to creating a climate-friendly alternative to petroleum.

The team tinkered with brewer’s yeast, splicing in genes from an organism that produces hydrocarbons as a metabolic byproduct. Amyris’s new microbes metabolize sugar and churn out long hydrocarbon chains that are better known as diesel fuel. The liquid is purer than conventional diesel and burns more cleanly.

Amyris didn’t start out as a fuel company. It launched in 2003 with the goal of synthesizing an affordable substitute for a pricey component of malaria treatment that is extracted from a plant found only in China and Vietnam. The new compound is still in development. Meanwhile, Amyris has formed partnerships to build a diesel plant in Brazil, with the ambitious goal of pumping out a billion gallons within the next five years. Amyris also plans to develop renewably sourced gasoline and jet fuel—but diesel was an ideal place to start.

Most synthetic biologists familiar with Amyris’s research say that while the company may have created some promising compounds, the real challenge will be achieving 90% efficiency of conversion. John Doerr, leading venture capitalist and big supporter of the company states: “If you’re smart enough you can make a better fuel. But to have a business, you have to make it at the right yield and at the right cost.”

Original article: Logan Ward. Popular Mechanics. November 2008. Read more…