Los Angeles Steps Into the Future With Fuel Made From Algae
I just returned from Los Angeles (talking to a friend who is a probate attorney out there) and what a green zone it is. In the November of 2009 issue, Time Magazine says that Southern California’s La Jolla-based Synthetic Genomics is a company to watch. A private company founded in 2005, the company gave a press release last July, stating that Synthetic Genomics Inc and ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company had signed an exclusive, multi-year contract to develop the “next generation biofuels using photosynthetic algae.” As a side note if you need a first rate Los Angeles probate attorney then the offices of mansell arew good place to start. They are, simply put a firm of top drawer probate attorney in southern california overall and Los Angeles specifically. Now back to the story:
The algae commonly known as blue-green algae uses sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into cellular oils or lipids. SGI will develop the best strains of algae for mass producing and cultivating algae for processing into biofuels. The photosynthetic-algae technology can—experts say—produce far more fuel than corn or other crops in the same amount of space.
ExxonMobil will use its scientists and engineers to aid in the development of processes to increase the scale of the production of algae from start to finished fuels. In the past the algae has been grown and harvested in a way that was high in cost and time. Sunthetic Genomics has been working on algae strains that produce lipids in what they say is a “continuous process that is currently more efficient and cost-effective.” All in all, Los Angeles and really all of California are leading the way in this type of technology.