OIL FROM NATIVE AMERICANS INSTEAD OF THE MIDDLE EAST

They call it biocrude.

It’s a biofuel that’s as good a fuel as crude oil but cleaner. It’s as emissions-neutral as any biofuel but grows much faster.

It’s a fast, clean biocrude.

It uses no farmland, almost all its water is recycled – and it literally eats carbon dioxide (CO2) for lunch. It can be refined into all the same fuels petroleum is refined into and will drive all the same engines.

It does everything but find husbands for middle-aged single women.

And it comes from pond scum.

Mostly composed of oil, algae grow primarily on sunlight, carbon dioxide and water. That means they scrub greenhouse gases (GhG) from the atmosphere as they grow.

Solix, a Colorado company that has developed a unique and efficient photo-bioreactor system in which to grow algae, has just put together a deal for a big new plant on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation in Colorado. Solix will grow the algae on the reservation and send the oil they produce to a standard oil refinery where it will be transformed into a biodiesel without any special adaptations to the refinery.

The reservation location has plenty of space and sun – and a nearby natural gas plant’s GhG emissions to feed the Solix fresh water algae.

Algae reproduce at a remarkable rate, doubling in volume every few hours when there is adequate light, water and carbon. Its fuel yield is therefore much much higher than any other biofuel source in use.

Solix expects to produce 2,500-to-3,000 gallons/acre a year. Soybeans, the biggest U.S. source of biodiesel, produces 50-to-70 gallons/acre.

The downside: Expense.

Commercial scale operations that nurture the algae efficiently are being built one by one. Developers are experimenting with variations. There are millions of strains of algae. Some are counterproductive. Just the right mix of CO2, water and sunlight is necessary and that mix varies with algae strains.

When algae growers perfect their systems, they will be able to create economies of scale that will bring costs down.

If there is any doubt remaining about the long-term viability of algae as a fuel source, consider this: One of the investors in the new Solix plant is Valero Energy Corp., the biggest U.S. oil refining company.

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Solix to develop algae biofuel plat with So. Utes
Timothy Gardner (w/ Walter Bagley), November 11, 2008 (Reuters)
and
Colorado Company to Take Algae-Based Fuel to the Next Level
Matthew L. Wald, November 11, 2008 (NY Times)

WHO
Solix Biofuels Inc (Doug Henston, CEO); Southern Ute Alternative Energy LLC; Valero Energy Corp; < a href="http://www.infieldcapital.com/"target="_blank">Infield Capital

WHAT
- Solix secured funding to build a commercial scale photo-bioreactor system algae biofuel plant on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation.

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WHEN
- Solix will break ground early in 2009.
- Solix already has a 1,500 gallons/acre (per year) test plot in operation in Fort Collins.

WHERE
- Solix will build a five-acre plot on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation in southwestern Colorado near Durango.
- The biocrude produced will be shipped to an oil facility for refining.
- Solix is based in Fort Collins, Colorado.

WHY
- Solix got $15.5 million to build its plant, $10.5 million in outside funding and an additional $5 million from investors.
- The Solix photo-bioreactor system algae farm will produce 2,500-to-3,000 gallons/acre (per year) substitute gasoline and diesel fuel.
- Many companies are searching for the most cost-effective way to derive an oil substitute from algae, one of the oldest life forms.
- The Solix process can compete with crude prices of ~ $70-to-$80/ barrel.
- The Solix focus is on cutting algae-growing facility costs.
- The photo-bioreactor system is a way to control algae growth for efficiency. It is a plot of long, narrow, sealed containers, immersed in water, into which CO2 and organic nutrients are circulated. The algae take hydrogen atoms from the water and carbon atoms from the CO2 to produce a hydrocarbon liquid that is recovered via centrifuge or solvent extraction.
- The algae strain to be used by Solix is a fresh-water variety.
- Another challenge to the algae biofuels industry facilitating the growth of the best algae and limiting the growth of invasive, less-productive ones.

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QUOTES
Henston, CEO, Solix: "We're using less materials and less expensive materials…[but the system is] species agnostic.”