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Monday, July 27, 2009
Joule Biotechnologies comes out of stealth with solar-powered biofuel tech
By Jackie Noblett
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Looking to take the plant matter out of alternative fuels, Joule Biotechnologies Inc. is developing a way to generate ethanol from millions of photosynthetic organisms.
The two-year-old clean tech firm founded and backed by Flagship Ventures managing partner Noubar Afeyan emerged from stealth mode Monday, announcing it is working on a large-scale test of its Helioculture technology, which uses the genetically engineered cells to produce fuels with the sun, wastewater and carbon dioxide.
Joule has brought on veteran clean tech executive Bill Sims, who led Burlington LED developer Color Kinetics Inc. through its acquisition by Royal Philips Electronics NV in 2007, as president and CEO to advance the company’s business model.
Joule is trying to tackle some of the thorniest issues in the development of alternative fuels — cost, scalability and feed supply — by combining the biological advances of ethanol-excreting bacteria used in cellulosic ethanol distilleries, the efficiencies of photosynthetic algae, and the modular nature of solar panels.
“When one looks at the biofuels industry, what are the limitations? One is the ability to scale in a controllable way. You have to invest a lot of money before you know it works,” said co-founder David Berry. “By leveraging what we saw in the solar field industry, coupled with the efficiencies of the biofuels industry, we felt we had a technology that could scale.”
The system consists of a solar converter, which captures sunlight and carbon dioxide and an internal broth of grey water, nutrients and the photosythentic organisms. The organisms take in the light and carbon dioxide, and through photosynthesis, the cells are genetically engineered to secrete a variety of hydrocarbons that can be used as fuel.
Company officials make it clear that this process does not use algae as the fuel converting organisms, however. Algae biofuels companies have struggled in the past to prove the technology is feasible on a commercial scale. One such firm locally, GreenFuel Technologies, was shut down in May.
Sims said he believes the modular nature of the solar reactors eliminates the problems other biofuels developers must contend with. “Once we show it works on a half-acre, we know it works on an acre or ten acres,” he said.
Not only does Sims believe the technology will achieve higher productivity than competitors, it can be cheaper as well — less than $50 a barrel with subsidies.
The focus on ethanol and biofuels comes as states including Massachusetts look to promote alternative fuels that do not use corn or other food crops. The Massachusetts Biofuels Act signed last year by Gov. Deval Patrick excludes cellulosic fuels from the gas tax and requires diesel and heating oil to be blended with 2 percent biodiesel by 2010.
Joule is working on moving testing outside the lab, literally, negotiating a land lease somewhere in the southwest United States as well as talking with “a variety of international companies that have a tremendous interest in the technology,” Sims said.
If testing goes according to plan, Joule will begin full scale commercialization of solar ethanol in 2010, and other hydrocarbons in 2011.
Flagship is the lead investor in Joule, along with angel and self-financing. Afeyan has assumed the role of chairman of the company along with his investor duties.
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