Algae Fuels Year in Review 2015

HOUSTON - Jan. 5, 2016 - PRLog -- Another year has gone by and again no change in the Congressional mandate that only supports algae research and not commercial deployment or commercial production of algae biofuels. This has nothing to do with the current price of a barrel of oil. It has to do with two things - the outdated Congressional mandate that requires that the funding only be used for more algae research and technologies and that the grants be paid to universities, and with greed, avarice and self-serving interests on the part of those who have access to government grants.Have the games being played by the government, university researchers, lobbyists and pay-for-play media helped or hindered algae fuels from ever becoming a reality?

For decades, algae researchers have all used the same mantra: Algae for fuel was too costly, it could not yet be done and they needed more research. They and their lobbyists were successful in convincing the Department of Energy to continue to fund their research projects for decades. Some have made entire careers out of either asking for or awarding grants, and we, the taxpayer, have nothing but rooms and rooms full of unproven fuel technologies to show for their time and effort.

Taxpayers, investors and consumers that have read all the algae fuels press releases continue to ask:

Whatever happened to the promised algae fuels?

NAA is convinced that at this point, the failure of cultivating algae for biofuels has nothing to do with the price of fossil fuels. It has nothing to do with lowering the costs. It’s all politics!!!  It’s just one on a never-ending list of good excuses. What about 18 months ago, when the price of oil was over $100 per barrel? The reality is that it has to do with the fact that the funding for algae as an alternative fuel has been hijacked by Department of Energy research funding programs that has been, in our humble opinion, misled by its leadership, misguided by its advisors, bought by lobbyists and never held accountable for anything. It led the US taxpayer to believe its mission was to reduce dependency on foreign oil, and told Congress that is what it was working on, but that has neglected to mention that the funds it controls are restricted to research and development and to be paid to groups involving, and frequently led by, institutions of higher education. What about the successful algae fuel tests in commercial airlines and in automobiles? The Department of Energy has refused, despite repeated requests by NAA, private industry and some past research grant recipients, to ask Congress to update the mandate to accommodate today’s private industry needs, not those of 1976 when the mandate was enacted. In other words, you, Congress, the President and I might think they are funding efforts to produce algae for alternative fuels. But, it still remains R&D never reaching commercial scale deployment.

Private industry (not researchers and lobbyists with no training or experience in commercial production) have already lowered the CAPEX for the industry. One would conclude private industry should have involvement of writing industrial standards for the algae production industry (not researchers and lobbyists with no experience or training in commercial production). Shouldn’t private industry be involved in these processes, since they are taking all the risk? Are algae researchers running out of things to research?

The reality is that they are only funding for research and development, and only at or through institutions of higher education (we could call it the ‘prop up the universities’ act). Not only is there no incentive for the researchers to commercialize their technologies, but the funds cannot be used for that purpose, and the Department of Energy has proven time after time that it is not equipped to manage the projects it funded, let alone commercialize anything. The results of the projects that were funded speak for themselves and are dismal at best. Most of the projects that were funded in 2008 – 2010 were fully funded, but very few were completed. Entire management teams have been replaced. The beauty of the situation for the grant recipients as well as the people making and monitoring the awards on behalf of the Department of Energy are not held accountable or responsible. It’s been a win-win for them, all at the expense of the US taxpayer. …… Where are the promised algae biofuels from companies like Sapphire Energy (“the golden child”) who in 2009 claimed they would be producing 1 million gallons of diesel and jet fuel per year and in January 2010 were awarded a $50 million grant by DOE and a $54.5 million loan guarantee from USDA to substantiate these claims), Solazyme, General Atomics, Algenol, Solix Biofuels, Aurora Biofuels, Synthetic Genomics, BioProcess Algae/Green Plains, Phycal, the government labs like NREL and Sandia, and the universities?  In 2010, Solazyme was able to deliver 100% algae-based jet fuel to the Department of Defense and received millions from the DoE for the construction of an integrated biorefinery project. The fuel allegedly met all of the requirements for Naval renewable fuel, aviation fuel, and purportedly met the fuel requirements of the US Air Force and the standards for commercial jet fuel. So, where is it 5 years later?  Several companies have replaced all or most of their management teams, but, with all due respect……….

Algae for fuels has apparently run its course. It was hijacked by the DOE Algae Biomass Program/BETO, university researchers and their lobbyists.  It was never supposed to be a never-ending research project.  Now the focus of private industry has changed from algae fuels to focus on algae biobased co-products. Why? Because the available funding was not made available to private industry for the commercial production of algae fuels.

Have a Happy Algae New Year!