Energy Dept Invests $22 Million in Biofuels Projects

Hawaii Bioenergy and Sapphire Energy have each received $5 million investments from the Energy Department, part of some $22 million in new investments by the agency to help develop cost-competitive algae fuels and streamline the biomassfeedstock supply chain for advanced biofuels.

The Energy Department has invested $16.5 million in four projects — Hawaii Bioenergy, Sapphire Energy, New Mexico State University and California Polytechnic State University —to help boost the productivity of sustainable algae, while cutting capital and operating costs of commercial-scale production.

Hawaii Bioenergy will develop a cost-effective photosynthetic open pond system to produce algal oil. The project will also demonstrate preprocessing technologies that reduce energy use and the overall cost of extracting lipids and producing fuel intermediates, the Energy Department says.

Sapphire Energy will develop a new process to produce algae-based fuel that is compatible with existing refineries. The project will also work on improving algae strains and increasing yield through cultivation improvements.

Additionally, New Mexico State University received $5 million to increase the yield of a microalgae while developing harvesting and cultivation processes that lower costs and support year-round production. And California Polytechnic State University received $1.5 million to conduct research and development work to increase the productivity of algae strains and compare two separate processing technologies. The project will be based at a municipal wastewater treatment plant in Delhi, California that has six acres of algae ponds.

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