Here is the link,

GreenFuel Technologies, one of the first companies to enter the algae biofuels business, is shutting down after running out of money.

Investor Duncan McIntyre of Polaris Venture Partners on Wednesday confirmed GreenFuel Technologies' demise, saying that the company is a "victim of the economy." The closing was reported by Greentech Media earlier on Wednesday.

McIntyre said investors, who have raised more than $70 million for GreenFuel Technologies since 2001, are exploring ways to sell the company's intellectual property and assets.

Very unfortunate.  We need people doing research =before= the price of crude starts exponentially rising again.

As soon as China and India go back to using State funds to buy crude and selling it domestically at government subsidized prices, crude prices are going to start rising.  And not stop until they are very high again.

 

Voltaire:

Very unfortunate.  We need people doing research =before= the price of crude starts exponentially rising again.  

   No PBR has ever shown the ability to be a net producer of energy, IE EROI. Thus, why does it matter what the price of energy is because PBR algae cannot ever compete with that energy?

*a scientist of the 1800's* "No vehicle has ever gone 60mph,  Even if that unlikely feat were to happen, it would kill those in it."

*a scientist of the 1940's* "An airburst atomic explosion could start a chain reactio that would consume all of the earth's atomosphere"

*some of my ancestors of 1000's of years ago* "this wheat like plant called maize could never become what you describe as corn."

etc etc

1= As long as we are not talking about violating fundamental physical laws, one should not say something is impossible.

2= What's PBRs got to do with it?  Who's to say that PBR's of the design we now associate with that term are the correct approach?

Making algoil production have positive EROI and ROI is not restricted to making PBR algoil production a success.

OTOH, modern basic research done on =any= aspect of algoil production is of value since our body of knowledge in this area is so small and so out of date.

...and who knows?  As long as the PBR designs in question do not violate the fundamental laws of physics, there is always the chance that someone will find a successful one.

Bottom line:  We need liquid fuels for the foreseeable future.  The best renewable source for those liquid fuels is algoil,  Therefore we had d@mn well better keep doing research and trying ot make breakthroughs in this area.

Unless something fundamental changes, our choices are make algoil work or have economic, environmental, and social catastrophes take place that rate to kill a large percentage of the population, human and not, of the earth. 

Voltaire:

  Therefore we had d@mn well better keep doing research and trying ot make breakthroughs in this area. 

Who is we? Do you mean you and I? My neighbor? My grandmother is retired and available. Maybe because its so important we should give all of them $70+ million. Im sure they could also come up with some hairbrained scheme to power the universe too.

Actually, if they were able to raise 70m in the private sector, bless em. So.... it seems that there is no reason for you to even say something like

Voltaire:

Therefore we had d@mn well better keep doing research and trying ot make breakthroughs in this area.

Unless something fundamental changes, our choices are make algoil work or have economic, environmental, and social catastrophes take place that rate to kill a large percentage of the population, human and not, of the earth. 

because they got over $70m. It seems they ARE doing the development work and FAILING. I wonder how much public money and time was spent to make something not work for what I told you for free. It seems that the problem is being taken care of by itself. Eventually, algae will fade back into the backwaters (pun intended) soon enough after people realize they are being duped into flawed and overhyped development projects that end in un-sale-able assets.

Voltaire:

 The best renewable source for those liquid fuels is algoil  

  If by algoil you mean squeezing lipids outta algae, then your completely mistaken. I can show you 10 projects that are turning biomass into liquid fuels, all of them with + EROI and already producing products. How can some crazy theoretical misunderstanding compete with countless projects such as gasification/FT like Syntroleum, Novel fuel pathways like Virent and and brazilian cane-a-hol. Whilst algae as a feedstock might be utilized to some extent, algoil as usually discribed is not a viable way to produce liquid fuels. FT is more efficient at turning biomass into liquid fuels, biodiesel is an inferior fuel to synfuels and growing a high lipid specialty algae is hugely expensive and out of touch with modern day realities.

If by 'best' you mean algoil is the best way for the dreamer to keep dreaming and not get anything really accomplished? Sorta like an opium for the tre hugging sustainable hydrocarbon head? Then yes I would agree with you that algoil is the best.

This is sheer conjecture on my part but

IF ...  the trend holds true ,as it has so far ,Greenfuels has followed the pattern of so many so called "start up" companys involved in the algae to biofuels field. which has, in the majority ,been populated by people whose only intent was to cash in on the grant  and investor money that is being handed out indiscriminantly. to people who may already have money or are well connected. who in turn use the money for thier own desires such as buying mercedes  benz cars or just lining thier pockets with government money

 these people are comitting what is tantamount to Treason.. they have caused confusion and cast doubt on a perfectly legitimate endeavour. 

algae to biofuels IS workable and it doesnt take tens of millions of dollarsto do it "algae is algae " as  has been proven by our clients  who have found out for themselves going from 50 ML culture tubes to hundreds and even  thousandsof gallons simply by following our instructions. the failure rate has been less than two percent. .out of well over a thousand plus clients around the world.

 as to extracting the Lipids, a commonly used process called the Bligh and Dyer process works

we merely scaled up a soxhlet extractor  to make larger batches for this we used large diameter  KIMAX  glass  industrial pipe...  there are other techniques available but people are playing it close to the chest about describing the processes and in todays climate of dishonesty and idea theft I dont blame them one bit .

 It is that reluctance to share information that leads to resentment,and susp[icion by those who feel that for some reason those who are working on the  technology should reveal all that they have learned and accomplished through thier hard work.

In all the years that we have been involved in alternative fuels and feedstocks  We have never seen such a terrible  investor climate .this venture has attracted opportunists and scamsters on a level heretofore unprecedented.

It is a crying shame to see these failures for what ever reason they may occurr.

 now more than ever, we need these technologies to emerge and as a result  new job opportuniies will come about. as well as  ennhancing the National security.

Marc

Marc,

Agreed - too many people - both acedemic and buisness - are using algae research as a way to get even richer.  They are are ripping off you and I who have to pay to fund government research and investors who are trying to invest in development work that needs to be done.

Agreed - we desperately need for these technologies to emerge.

The obvious way to solve these problems is open source.  Different people have different parts of the puzzle.  For instance, you know about the Bligh and Dyer process.  If we each try to solve the entire puzzle, sepereately, we will waste a lot of time and money.  If we each contirbute our part of the puzzle, we can quickly get on with putting oil from algae into production.

 

I agree bobby,its time to let the cat out of the bag!!!

 That is why this next series of seminars we are going to offer  will reveal methods and information hereto fore  not released (as soon as the weather allows us to get some repairs and improvements done here at the center)  these seminars will include a demonstration of how to use the bligh and dyer process and other extraction methods for algae oil as well as hands on demos and training on how to actually build methane, gasification, ethanol production, and solar systems including how to build a photobioreactor. that is inexpensive and efficient.

 we plan on blowing the wall of intrigue and secrecy about the how to's of algae to oil production wide open.

we hope that by doing so, more people will be able to make advancements in getting these technologies mainstreamed into daily use.

Its time to get this into the hands of as many people as possible, as quickly as possible.This in the hopes that this knowledge will help create new job and career opportunities in this time of scarcity and uncertainty

By training people in alternative energy technologies in the past ,we have always operated in the spirit of open sourcing.

we hope  that by taking this approach and providing the knowledge needed....that people wont just sit there waiting for someone else to get these technologies working  for them and for our country

its time for people to take the bull by the horns and DO SOMETHING and quit waiting for others to come along and solve the problems we face as a nation for them.

Just as much as this is a time of great danger and uncertainty it is also a time of great opportunity for people to take  proactive measures to change the status quo and get this country working again so it can rise out of the mire of uncertainty. and regain its former strength and proper place in the global scheme of things

 we must  always remember that a rag-tag group of farmers and ordinary citizens, many without more than rusty flintlocks and inspired resolve ,once took what was merely a colony owned by a haughty and repressive empire, and forged this mighty nation by sheer will and determination

.we must act in the same spirit once again to lift us out of  looming depression into an era of renewed prosperity and national security.

It is in this spirit that we are planning  offer the wellspring of knowledge needed to  help set this country back on it 's proper path of greatness.

we will announce seminar dates and more info as soon as we have gotten further along in our preparations when the weather allows.

 Marc

 

 

Ecogenics3

How much Algae BioDiesel are you presentely producing?

our focus is optimising algae oil extraction technology  that is where the problem needs to be solved and that is our focus. some years ago we made a small amount of biodiesel from algae, enough to satisfy and encourage us to  focus on the main problem which is oil from algae extraction.

 we have various processes that we are working with ,one is a modified Bligh and Dyer method and another is cryo-thermal. our interest is in scaling both methods up to a reasonable  oil extraction levels the offering the technology to other producers.

 we are not focusing on biodiesel production as it is already a well known process

 we are involved in research and development ,not biodiesel production except in the case of food waste streams. and from fish oil as a by product of the fish emulsion production process. in which case we  produce both ethanol and biodiesel from those as can be seen on our website.  we do not produce fuel for sale nor are we interested in doing so. we are an educational and research organisation and in addition we operate a algae culture laboratory dedicated to growing and providing high lipid algae cultures to other researchers working on biodiesel from algae production technologies.

our focus is not production although our  hybrid biodiesel-ethanol plant can produce 7500 gallons of biodiesel evry three days and 15 gph of 195 proof  fuel grade or pharmaceutical grade ethanol. pix of our hybrid plant can be seen on the media page of these forums. . soon we will be offering hands on how to seminars in methane, gasification,  ethanol and how to grow algae. we will also offer a hands on alternative fuels production  system  operators training course  since we feel there will be a need for  qualified plant operators  in the near future.

 Marc

 

All this, yet you nore anyone else has been able to produce algae feed stock at even close to a reasonable cost.

 

I encountered you for the first time 5 years ago, yet you still seem to be on the same page you were than.

 

Best of luck.

we like our niche, producing fuel  for sale is a hassle... dealing with distributors ,regulatory agencies etc. thats for those who like that sort of thing.

ive been training people on alternative fuels  since the seventies and I enjoy doing so.  and ive been doing research in many fields since far longer than that. I love teaching and developing new technologies.

our algae culture lab supplies algae to researchers and those who wish to grow algae all over the world and many of them are now producing  large quantities of algae after having started with our cultures.

we make enough fuel for our own needs. and when the shit hits the fan were in a position to make  15 gallons per hour of ethanol  24/365 and

 7500 gallons of triple washed biodiesel evry three days.and we will be in a position to provide fuels to our community if the need arises.

 if i were to go commercial with algae i would produce organically certified spirulina and market it. despite all the inaccurate and negative bullshit spewed by naysayers, algae is a world recognised food supplement  by the scientific community and spirulina also has the greatest potential for hydrogen production according to work done at  nearby oak ridge national laboratories one of our interests is in creating living fuel cells as architectural features. to power buildings and homes.

 we like being on the same page weve been on. its been a great ride and our work in the field is well recognised around the world. and weve been doing it for far longer than most others who have had far more resources than we did

and god willing ecogenics will be around even when im dust scattered to the wind.