Exxon Mobil to Invest in Oilgae
The international oil giant Exxon Mobil, whose chief executive had been infamous for mocking ethanol, one of the alternative energies as “moonshine,” is poised to enter in the field of biofuels. Exxon is going to announce investment of $600 million in producing liquid transportation fuels from algae — organisms in water found from pond scum to seaweed. They plan to tie up with Synthetic Genomics, the biotechnology company founded by the genomics pioneer J. Craig Venter.
The agreement is likely to address a major flaw in the strategy of the world’s largest and richest oil company, which had hitherto been criticized by environmentalists for being indifferent to global warming and also being reluctant to develop renewable fuels.
According to one of its prominent research analyst, despite the infamous “moonshine” remark a few years ago by its chairman and chief executive, Rex W. Tillerson, the company has spent many years exploring various fuel alternatives.
Vice President Emil Jacobs at the R&D of Exxon’s research and engineering unit stated that they have looked at every option keeping in mind several parameters, especially scale as if one is unable to scale up a technology then one should not get involved at all according to him. He added that it is easier said than done as production of algae-based fuels in commercial scale is still 5-10 years from now.
Environmentalist are definitely going to question the company’s sincerity and commitment considering Exxon’s huge profits from petroleum in the recent years. Kert Davies, research director at Greenpeace agrees about the need for new products in the market but doubts about the sincerity of big oil companies to put substantial efforts. Exxon’s move into biofuels, so far the preserve of venture capital and biotech firms, is likely to be a shot in the arm for the US administration.
Presently nine percent of Envi liquid fuel is derived from corn-based ethanol. Congress intends to push it up to the level of 36 billion gallons by 2022.
Being tricky, Mr. Tillerson’s skepticism about development of biofuel is not unfounded. Corn-based ethanol due to its low energy content and dubious environmental record had been the subject of severe criticism from many quarters. Exxon’s estimate is algae will yield yearly about 2,000 gallons of fuel per acre of production compared to 650 gallons for palm trees, 450 gallons for sugar canes and 250 gallons for corn.
Exxon’s tie up with Synthetic Genomics has also boosted the work of Dr. Venter, known for decoding the human genome in the 1990s, who has been working to find micro-organisms to turn in to fuel. In Dr. Venter’s opinion algae is the ultimate biological system capturing sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into fuel.
Algal biofuel aka oilgae by environmentalists, is a promising technology as fuels extracted would have same molecular structures like petroleum products including gasoline, diesel and jet fuel which will be compatible with present transportation infrastructure which has been proven by an algae-based fuel powered test flight by Continental Airlines.
Pentagon has also evinced interest in alternative fuels like algae to reduce its oil dependency.
Although cost-effective mass production is still far, algae’s advantages over other biofuels in growing them in areas unsuited for food crops or in brackish water or even sea water is considerable. Possibility of algae cutting down greenhouse gases is enormous. Exxon along with Synthetic Genomics plans to pioneer a genetically modified variety to absorb huge quantity of carbon dioxide like those emitted by power plants.
Exxon’s plans investment of $300 million for in-house studies and another $ 300 million for successfully meeting research and development milestones. Although a modest sum considering Exxon’s earning of $45.22 billion last year, the companies are projecting their partnership as a long-term R&D effort with possible investment running into billions.
Read more about Biofuel From Algae Market Potential
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This is great news, bio-diesel derived from algae is exceptionally exciting. There is a great interview with Richard Armstrong, president of Renewed World Energies, all about algae and the use of bio-diesel.