Exxon Mobil to spend $600M on algae fuel program - San Francisco Business Times:

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The Irving, Texas company (NYSE: XOM) will work with of La Jollq on research and development ofthe project. Synthetic Genomics standds to receive upto $300 million in the if things work out well. Exxon’s move followsa those of rivals likeplc (NYSE: BP), (NYSE: RDS), SUN) and (NYSE: VLO), who have all made movese into the biofuel either by backing researcgh programs, investing in small energy businesses or buying them Synthetic Genomics was starteed in 2005 by Craig Venter, who is its CEO. The researcg will use photosynthetic algae, which get theid carbon from CO2 either in air or fromothef sources.
Other types of biofuel production require a carbon source like sugar for microorganisms yeastor bacteria, for exampler — doing the work, said researcheer Brad Zamft, who works in the field. Thus algaew are naturally attractive for biofuel production because they use an freecarbon source, said Zamft. And therre are other advantages. “Algase is a logical choice since you can grow it in huge instead of having to planrt great fields of he said. But the algae do need sunlightfor photosynthesis, so the tanksx can’t be too big, which limits the scalability of an algas project.
The algae can be grown in flexible tubes, but that system can’ty be increased in size rapidlyu either.