I got this press release about Solazyme and BlueFire Ethanol. It's interesting to see a company using "post-sorted cellulosic wastes diverted from landfills" but is it really viable?
IRVINE, CA (May 26, 2009) - BlueFire Ethanol Fuels, Inc. (OTC BB:BFRE.OB - News), a company changing the world's transportation fuel paradigm through the production of ethanol from non-food cellulosic wastes, announced that Solazyme, Inc., a renewable oil production company and leading algal synthetic biology company, is testing sugars, produced through BlueFire’s patented process, for compatibility with its renewable oil process to produce the oil cost effectively and at scale.
“Our technologies are a great fit for each other,” stated Arnold Klann, CEO of BlueFire Ethanol Fuels, Inc. “Our patented acid hydrolysis process allows BlueFire Ethanol to utilize a variety of non-food feedstocks to produce sugars that can be used to make a variety of different types of fuels and chemicals. Supplying these low cost sugars to Solazyme’s technology provides them with the option of creating a variety of oils for the renewable energy industry and beyond.”
BlueFire Ethanol is currently focused on developing its first ethanol biorefinery in Lancaster, California. The Lancaster facility will use post-sorted cellulosic wastes diverted from landfills in Southern California to produce 3.9 million gallons of fuel-grade ethanol per year. The company was also awarded $40 million from the U.S. Department of Energy for construction of a second plant in Southern California, and has received the first installment of funding from the DOE for the development of the BlueFire Mecca, LLC plant in Southern California.
