Exxon executes algae-biofuels partnership
Exxon Mobil has finally joined the likes of BP in entering the biofuels industry. The US energy company will make its first major investment in biofuels in a $600 million (€426 million) partnership with biotech company Synthetic Genomics to develop transportation fuels from algae.
A late-comer to the green fuels sector, one of the company's requirements was finding a biofuel source that could be produced on a large scale.
Photosynthetic algae appears to be a viable, long-term candidate, Exxon finds.
Pumping algae-based fuels at Exxon petrol stations will not come tomorrow, however. ‘This is not going to be easy, and there are no guarantees of success,’ Emil Jacobs, VP at Exxon Mobil Research and Engineering, comments. ‘But we're combining Exxon Mobil's technical and financial strength with a leader in bioscientific genomics.’
The project involves three critical steps: identifying algae strains that can produce suitable types of oil quickly and at low costs, determining the best way to grow the algae and developing systems to harvest enough for commercial purposes.
Algae can also be grown using land and water unsuitable for other crop and food production; it consumes carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas blamed for climate change; and it can produce an oil with molecular structures similar to the petroleum products petrol, diesel and jet fuel, which Exxon already makes.
The $600 million price tag includes $300 million for Exxon's internal costs and $300 million or more to Synthetic Genomics if research and development milestones are successfully met.
‘Even though this is a multi-year programme, we both still consider it a very aggressive timetable, and it involves a lot of basic research,’ J. Craig Venter, founder and CEO of Synthetic Genomics, adds.
A late-comer to the green fuels sector, one of the company's requirements was finding a biofuel source that could be produced on a large scale.
Photosynthetic algae appears to be a viable, long-term candidate, Exxon finds.
Pumping algae-based fuels at Exxon petrol stations will not come tomorrow, however. ‘This is not going to be easy, and there are no guarantees of success,’ Emil Jacobs, VP at Exxon Mobil Research and Engineering, comments. ‘But we're combining Exxon Mobil's technical and financial strength with a leader in bioscientific genomics.’
The project involves three critical steps: identifying algae strains that can produce suitable types of oil quickly and at low costs, determining the best way to grow the algae and developing systems to harvest enough for commercial purposes.
Algae can also be grown using land and water unsuitable for other crop and food production; it consumes carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas blamed for climate change; and it can produce an oil with molecular structures similar to the petroleum products petrol, diesel and jet fuel, which Exxon already makes.
The $600 million price tag includes $300 million for Exxon's internal costs and $300 million or more to Synthetic Genomics if research and development milestones are successfully met.
‘Even though this is a multi-year programme, we both still consider it a very aggressive timetable, and it involves a lot of basic research,’ J. Craig Venter, founder and CEO of Synthetic Genomics, adds.
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