Solazyme’s renewable products can in theory replace or enhance oils derived from the world’s three existing sources – petroleum, plants and animal fats.
Solazyme (NASDAQ: SZYM) reports that its biofuel refinery in Peoria, Illinois is now making algae based fuels. Solazyme has been running fermentations at a commercial scale since 2007 and began running fermentation operations at the Peoria facility in Q4 2011.
Total Solazyme revenue for the Q1 2012 was $13.6 million compared with $7.7 million in the first quarter of 2011. First quarter net loss for Solazyme common stockholders was $16.8 million, which compares with a net loss attributable to common stockholders of $7.3 million in the prior year period. In effect, the more Solazyme sells the more it loses money. When Solazyme went public late in May 2011, shares in the firm rose $2.71 to close at $20.71 on the NASDAQ Stock Market, after being priced at $18. It is currently trading under $12 a share, as NASDAQ is under scrutiny for its botched Facebook offering. The hapless and ineffective Securities and Exchange Commission is allegedly looking at what caused the ordering ‘irregularities’ during the initial Facebook shares debut on 18 May where investors lost money.
Biofuel has the potential to decrease imports of oil, but cost, currently as much as five times conventional oil, and feedstocks that could hurt the global food supply, remain problematic. Then there’s the killer question: what happens to the price of feedstocks if even moderate success is demonstrated? There is ample precedent here, given the failed corn ethanol experiment, which cost taxpayers billions in subsidies.
The project was partially funded with a federal grant that Solazyme received from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in December 2009 to demonstrate the commercial making of renewable algal-based fuels. The demonstration commercial-scale plant will have a capacity of two million liters of oil annually. Solazyme has contracts with the U.S. Navy to supply diesel marine fuel, and is a subcontractor on a contract to supply jet fuel.
Solazyme’s renewable products can replace or enhance oils derived from the world’s three existing sources – petroleum, plants and animal fats. Solazyme is focused on commercializing its products into three target markets: (1) fuels and chemicals, (2) nutrition and (3) skin and personal care.
Solazyme bought the existing Peoria fermentation facility in May 2011 and began retrofitting the former PMP Fermentation Products plant into a facility that will produce renewable tailored triglyceride. By growing our microalgae in the dark using fermentation tanks to convert photosynthetic plant sugars into oil, Solazyme claims it is in effect using “indirect photosynthesis.”
Solazyme has been operating at semi-commercial scale through contract manufacturers since 2007. The company claims linear productivity in its scale-up efforts, including multiple manufacturing facilities and multiple successful 128,000-liter scale fermentations at Peoria.
“Bringing the Peoria Integrated Bio Refinery online is a major milestone for Solazyme and our ability to provide a new source of renewable oils that are specifically tailored to offer enhanced alternatives to conventional sources of oil,” said Rogerio Manso, Chief Commercialization Officer.
See also Biofuels Now in Commercial Use at United and Alaska Airlines
