TOI, Patna 3/8/2008
Pond life may fuel vehicles of the future
Alok Jha
Even for climate change optimists, it sounds too good to be true: a liquid fuel made from plants that is chemically identical to crude oil but which does not contribute to climate change when it is burned or need swaths of agricultural land to produce. But a company claims to have developed exactly that – a sustainable version of oil it calls "green crude".
Sapphire Energy uses single celled organisms such as algae to produce chemical mixture from which it is possible to extract fuels for cars or aircraft. When burned the fuel releases into the air only the carbon dioxide absorbed by the algae during its growth, making the whole process carbon neutral. Investors are already opening their cheque books for the San Diego based company. Sapphire has raised a total of $50m in venture capital in recent months, the highest ever for an algae biotech company, including a significant investment from the UK’s Wellcome Trust.
Even for climate change optimists, it sounds too good to be true: a liquid fuel made from plants that is chemically identical to crude oil but which does not contribute to climate change when it is burned or need swaths of agricultural land to produce. But a company claims to have developed exactly that – a sustainable version of oil it calls "green crude".
Sapphire Energy uses single celled organisms such as algae to produce chemical mixture from which it is possible to extract fuels for cars or aircraft. When burned the fuel releases into the air only the carbon dioxide absorbed by the algae during its growth, making the whole process carbon neutral. Investors are already opening their cheque books for the San Diego based company. Sapphire has raised a total of $50m in venture capital in recent months, the highest ever for an algae biotech company, including a significant investment from the UK’s Wellcome Trust.
