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Start-up LS9 has stated in the past that they plan to produce a synthetic version of petroleum with the help of microorganisms. This week, it will provide some information on how the process works.

Stephen del Cardayre, who heads up LS9's research, will deliver a paper this week on the process at the annual meeting of the Society of Industrial Microbiology taking place this week at Denver.

Industrial microbiology, one of our favorite topics here, essentially revolves around exploiting the properties of naturally occurring or genetically enhanced organisms. Microorganisms, after all, are little chemical factories. Feed sugar to certain types of yeast and alcohol comes out--and, unlike human employees, you don't have to pay yeast. In the past few years, scientists have begun to explore ways to use them to produce semiconductor insulators or convert wood to fuel. Others are also looking at synthetic biology, which involves replicating microbe activity without the microbe.

The research is relatively new, but a few companies such as Cambrios Technologies (biologically inspired semiconductor materials) and Mascoma (microbes for ethanol) have indicated they could be ready for commercialization soon.

LS9 is part of a microbe mafia being assembled by Khosla Ventures, which has invested in several of these companies. (LS9 has received $5 million in venture funding.) A significant number of these companies are coming out of the University of California, Stanford and Caltech. LS9 in part grew out of research conducted by Chris Somerville, a Stanford professor and plant expert who will also participate in biofuels research at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, which is expected to calve off start-ups.

Presentations at the conference will also come from Amyris Technologies, which wants to make a biologically-inspired jet fuel (Amyris grew out of Berkeley) and UC Santa Cruz, which will present a paper on deriving substances from marine fungi.

Solar thermal is heating up.

Infinia, which makes a Stirling engine that can generate electricity or household heat by harvesting heat from the sun, has raised $9.5 million, the company said Thursday. Investors include Idealab and Khosla Ventures. As part of the deal, Infinia bought Stirling Cycles, one of Idealab's companies.

Stirling engines were invented in the 19th century as an alternative to steam engines. A Stirling motor has a closed cylinder that houses a gas, such as hydrogen, and a piston. Applied heat expands the gas to move the piston that, in turn, pumps other mechanisms, such as a crank, to create energy.

The Kennewick, Wash.-based company's main product will be a dish--which will look like a large satellite TV receiver--that will use the sun's heat to generate electricity. It can also generate heat.

The product is slated for final design later this year and commercial release in 2008.

Other solar thermal companies (also called concentrated solar power) use the sun's heat to warm oil in a closed tube. The oil is then used to create steam, which turns a turbine.

Some scientists and venture capitalists believe that electricity produced at solar thermal power plants can be as cheap as conventional electricity. Solar thermal plants, however, only work in dry, desert environments--like outside of Las Vegas or in the deserts of Algeria--and are quite large and expensive. Nevada Solar One, a recently inaugurated 64-megawatt plant, cost $250 million.

Why make a shampoo bottle out of petroleum products when it can be formed out of agricultural-waste products? That's the premise behind Segetis, which today said it has raised $15 million.

The Minneapolis-based Segetis is one of a number of outfits trying to displace petroleum in household products like countertops, bottles and other items. Using organic matter cuts down on pollutants in the manufacturing process and makes recycling far more feasible.

Organic plastics have historically cost more than their petroleum counterparts, but the rising price of oil, coupled with other factors, is making organics more palatable.

Other companies in the field include Cereplast (plastic forks and paper cup liners) and Archer Daniels Midland.

Segetis says its basic chemical blocks could also be used in the production of biodiesel and other products.

The company was founded by Sergey Selifonov, who has worked for start-ups in Silicon Valley and has also conducted research at the Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms, a division of the Russian Academy of Science.

Investors in the company include Khosla Ventures, which has been putting money into a wide range of green start-ups. Recently, for instance, the firm has placed a number of investments in companies specializing in developing microorganisms for converting vegetable matter into biodiesel and other products.

You can imagine all of these companies cooperating to some degree someday.