Green Energy Reporter

The biofuel sector finds itself in a bind, pummeled by the economic crisis and a shortage of funding.   Also of concern, is ethanol’s poor environmental record.  Nonetheless, algae continues to be seen as a promising feedstock that could revive the once promising biofuel industry. On paper, algae is attractive: it does not require large tracts of land to grow, and it is not a food crop, unlike corn or other sugar-based feedstocks that can tighten regional food supplies. Plus, it’s a carbon sink, because it requires large amounts of CO2 to grow.

Eckelberry says OriginOil could roll out an industrial application within the next five years. One such application could be a biodiesel refining production line. A full-fledged industrial production for the sector as a whole could take longer — at least 10 to 15 years, according to industry advocates. Eckelberry agrees, noting that the launch of vast power plant-sized centralized production plants will take even longer to develop. He compares the current state of play in the algae industry to the early days of the Internet, when for each Amazon there were hundreds of ambitious startups with fresh ideas and a lot of cash to burn but with no clear commercial strategy. “There’s a lot of smoke out there,” he warns.

OriginOil has developed what it calls a ‘Single-Step Extraction‘ process that it says can extract oil from thick algae cells and separate the algae oil from the water and its biomass, all in a single step. The process works in the lab now; the question is whether it can be scaled into a commercial application.

Diagram of OriginOil's "Single-Step Extraction" process

OriginOil hopes to avoid the same fate with its Single-Step Extraction technology. The process is at the core of the company’s identity and development plan. “We’re a technology company,” Eckelberry often repeats. That’s a short way to say that the company has no intention of becoming a fully integrated “algae major,” able to produce, refine and market its green fuel. It instead would like anyone in the business of oil to buy its technology. As such, the model for OriginOil seems more Microsoft and less Chevron.

Over the next few years, OriginOil plans to continue to improve its algae technologies. The company’s cash burn rate averages about $200,000 a month, mostly to support its R&D effort.

Eckelberry says algae “logically is the end game for biofuel.” The challenge now, he says, is to scale up production. “We need to show that we can do it. [Algae] has to move away from being a curiosity and become a viable industrial product.”