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algenol

Leading oil refiner invests in more algae

Valero Services, a subsidiary of the oil refiner Valero Energy, has signed a joint development agreement with Algenol Biofuels to share technology regarding "production and distribution of transportation fuels and chemicals," the company announced Thursday.

Algenol Biofuels, which was founded in 2006, has developed technology that capitalizes on certain types of algae with natural sugar-making abilities, harnessing their enzymes to ferment sugar into ethanol. The metabolically enhanced algae are grown in bioreactors. They're then manipulated with a combination of things like nutrients, water, pH levels, temperature, and salinity to produce ethanol, according to Algenol.

The amount and … Read more

Algae farm in Mexico to produce ethanol in '09

Rather than squeeze algae for its oil, Algenol wants to turn each algae cell into a tiny ethanol factory.

The Maryland-based company said that business partner BioFields has licensed its technology and committed $850 million to build a saltwater algae farm in the Sonoran Desert in northwest Mexico. Production is scheduled to begin next year.

BioFields paid over $100 million to license Algenol's technology, Algenol CEO Paul Woods said Thursday. He said the ethanol produced at the farm will cost $1 less than today's gasoline, or about $3 per gallon.

Algenol's technology was first developed in the … Read more