Chemical engineering is far more complicated then A + B = C; With the right catalysts, pressures, temperatures, separations, ect. We get A+B+Z = JP 8.

I don’t know about Sapphire’s success specifically, but they could be doing it.

Well that fine example of an algae plant” Petrosun, Symbol PSUD, is now worth a whopping $810,000! I’m gonna invest that cash I had set aside for an up and coming jock strap recycling company to invest in this baby! Wait a minute, I can use the carbon in the old jock straps to feed the algae! It’s a scientific fact that scrotums contain 10,000 times more carbon than…well you never mind…this is a sure thing right George? George?

Do some research??? That’s funny. The science behind fuel cells and nuclear reactors is also sound, but a bit pricy. I won’t let economics get in the way of your fantasy though. The guy that Rep Inslee described is a venture capitalist, not the owner of the company. Did you listen to his speech? The man is a simpleton. That’s like me going to Congress and touting the virtues of all the companies I’m invested in.

Interesting link and excellent “independently verifiable source”, but can you tell me where I can buy some of that PetroSun fuel? They say they make 5000-8000 gallons per acre per year and have several hundred acres leased. That post is a year old, so they should have some product available somewhere. Several articles say 4 million gallons per year and 110 million pounds of biomass. Maybe they just throw it away once they make it. Anything is possible for a company with a market capitalization of …put pinky to corner of mouth…”$1.28 MILLION DOLLARS!” That ticker is PSUD, but since you did so much research, you probably knew that. Certainly only every other person in my neighborhood has assets like that! That is coincidentally what PetroSun owes Shreveport Louisiana for reneging on the deal to sponsor a college football bowl game:

http://www.ktbs.com/news/PetroSun-stripped-of-Independence-Bowl-title-sponsorship-sued-over-non-payment–15964/

On the “carbon neutral thing, I knew I would get that argument as soon as I posted. I wonder though if “every molecule is sucked out of the air” and none comes from the ground or whatever they are feeding it? Can you verify that no carbon is pulled from other sources and that “every molecule” comes from the atmosphere? They say they use the open pond method. Can you explain how their algae compete with the local strains? In a 2006 newsletter Mr Hung, owner of the fish farm (oops, I mean biofuels plant), mentions the local algae there:

The Arroyo Colorado River, only four nautical miles upstream from the hyper saline Laguna Madre Bay. Our average salinity is around 5 to 15 parts per thousand and the water is rich in algae.

http://www.shrimpnews.com/FreeNewsBackIssues/FreeNewsDec200622.html

This is SNAKE OIL pure and simple!

http://gas2.org/2008/03/29/first-algae-biodiesel-plant-goes-online-april-1-2008/

There’s a long term pilot plant for you. From algae.

The science behind algae is sound. The only thing that Sapphire Energy did differently is tweak the output molecule in interesting new ways to create something that can turn into gasoline, not ethanol.

These companies are currently in business to milk up government funding and then disappear (or grab subsidies and disappear). There will be US government grants and loans pissed away soon under the new administration to anyone who sounds like they know anything about renewable energy. Banks are not going to loan these people money. The only place they will be able to get it is from our fearless leaders in government. There is NOT ONE independently verifiable algae fuel production facility on Earth. If there is please point it out and tell me where I can buy some “green crude”. Even a long-term pilot plant would do.

That mental retard Rep Inslee from Washington state is a supporter of Sapphire. You can find his incoherent speech on the House floor on youtube.

It’s so expensive that in spite of the excessive funding no more than one gallon of jet fuel from algae was available to test on the Japan Air Lines flight.

Fail!