According to and article published in the Los Angeles Times, a fairly new company named Sapphire Energy claims that it may be able to turn algae into oil, thereby producing a green-colored fuel that would be cleaner than gasoline and diesel without all of the negative effects of biofuel production.

According to another article published back in December of 2007 about the use of algae as a fuel source, the article claimed that converting algae oil into biodiesel uses the same process that turns vegetable oils into biodiesel. However the cost of producing algae is somewhat hard to pin down because no one had actually ran through the process from start to finish anywhere but a laboratory.

Sapphire Energy claims that algae as a fuel source is a better solution to the oil crisis than fossil fuels, biodiesel or any other ethanol or sugar-based biofuel because it wouldn’t have as direct of an impact on food prices, the destruction of cropland or fresh water reservoirs and the rainforest. Rather, they propose that algae (aka: green crude production):

• is made directly from CO2 using photosynthesis
• does not result in biodiesel or ethanol
• enhance, replaces petroleum-based products
• don’t require food crops or agricultural land
• are carbon neutral and renewable
• support domestic energy independence

Sapphire Energy was cited as saying that they expect to introduce its first fuels in three years, reaching full commercial scale in five years. And if everything works out, Sapphire hopes to curb the United States’ dependence on imported crude oil as well as alleviate any concerns people may have about the world’s dwindling supply of oil.

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Tags: Auto Transportation, auto news //