Sep 10 2008
Solazyme Inc. announced that it has produced the world’s first microbial-derived jet fuel.
Solazyme’s algal-derived aviation fuel as analyzed by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), one of the nations leading fuel analytical laboratories, passed the eleven “most challenging specifications needed to meet the ASTM D1655 standard for Aviation Turbine Fuel. The tested areas included the key measurements for density, thermal oxidative stability, flashpoint, freezing point, distillation and viscosity among others. Of the eleven tested parameters, the Solazyme aviation fuel passed the ASTM D1655 requirements for every measurement. Therefore, the Solazyme algae-based aviation kerosene has passed the biggest hurdles needed to successfully develop a commercial and military jet fuel fully consistent with existing engines and infrastructure,” as stated in the SwRI report.
In the U.S. alone, 1.6 billion gallons of jet fuel are used every month resulting in significant greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, the EU is widely expected to require airlines flying into and out of airports in the EU to participate in the Emissions Trading System beginning in 2011. As a result, the need for environmentally friendly and sustainable alternatives is growing rapidly. Solazyme’s algal-derived aviation fuel is the first step towards achieving those alternatives on a broad scale.
“We are excited to be the first advanced biofuel company to successfully make jet fuel from algal oil that passes the most critical ASTM D1655 (Jet A) standards. Producing a low carbon jet fuel and putting it through biofuel testing with SwRI further solidifies Solazyme’s position as a leader in the green fuels space,” said Jonathan Wolfson, chief executive officer of Solazyme. “This announcement is proof of the advantages of our proprietary renewable oil production process to create highly tailorable oils and renewable fuels.”
Solazyme is currently producing thousands of gallons of oil at scale and is the only advanced biofuels company that has produced fuels that have passed specification testing. The fuels produced in addition to jet fuel include SoladieselBDTM a FAME biodiesel and SoladieselRDTM a renewable diesel, which has the same chemical properties as petro-diesel. Like Solazyme’s aviation fuel, both SoladieselTM fuels are compatible with the existing transportation fuel infrastructure.
Solazyme implements a unique algal conversion process that allows algae to produce oil in large tanks quickly, efficiently and without sunlight. The process can employ a variety of non-food feedstocks, including cellulosic materials such as agricultural residues and high-productivity grasses including bagasse and switchgrass as well as industrial byproducts such as crude glycerol. The results are renewable oils that can be leveraged across a wide variety of industries and applications, which are nontoxic and safe.