Presentation to OMB

September 17, 2013
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Advanced Industrial 

Biotechnology Company

Commercializing Direct To 

Ethanol ® Technology

Fort Myers, FL Commercial 

Development Campus

 Headquartered in Florida

 European operations 

based in Switzerland

 Research labs in Fort 

Myers, Florida and 

Berlin, Germany

 160 employees including 

66 with advanced 

degrees

Fort Myers Research Labs Process Development Unit

Algenol Corporate Overview

 $160M equity capital

 $25M Department of 

Energy Integrated 

Biorefinery grant

 $10M economic 

development grant from 

Lee County, FL 

 60,000 ft2 of Research 

and Development lab 

space 

 4 acre Process 

Development Unit (PDU)

 36 acre demonstration 

IBR

Integrated Biorefinery

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VW @ Cyano Biofuels, May 02, 2012, Berlin – Algenol, Dirk Radzinski

Sustainable Process Comparison to

other Biofuels

Technology Overview: Key Benefit Details

Direct to Ethanol® does not Require:

 Daily harvesting algae to produce ethanol

 Farm land or food crops

 Fresh water

Added Benefit: 

• Waste algae becomes diesel, gasoline and 

jet fuel 

Necessary Inputs Are Abundant:

 Sunshine

 CO2 from industrial sources - 1 tonne of 

CO2 becomes 144 gallons of ethanol, diesel 

gasoline and jet fuel (125, 7, 6, 6)

 Saltwater is a feedstock, not freshwater

 For each gallon of ethanol produced - 

3 gallons of fresh water can be provided

Productivity

>9,000 ethanol

gallons per acre-year

Cost

Opex target ≈

$1.00/gallon

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VW @ Cyano Biofuels, May 02, 2012, Berlin – Algenol, Dirk Radzinski

• 125 gallons of ethanol 

• (and ethanol can 

Carbon Capture and Climate Change

• 125 gallons of ethanol 

• (and ethanol can be converted into polyethylene)

• 7 gallons of diesel (ultra low sulfur diesel)

• 6 gallons of jet fuel

• 6 gallons of gasoline

• 1 tonne of CO2 becomes 144 gallons of 4 fuels

• 200 million tonnes of CO2 – equivalent to 67 coal fired 

power plants - recycle into 29B gallons of ethanol, diesel 

and jet fuels, and gasoline

• Old arguments against CO2 capture and climate change 

are now obsolete.

• It can cost $30 - $50 / tonne to capture CO2 , and we will 

buy it for that much...

CO2 can be captured economically, because we will buy it

1 tonne of CO2 becomes 144 gallons of 4 fuels

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 Commercial strain of algae has 

been selected

 Vastly better at making biofuels

 Yields 25 times higher, therefore 

much lower cost and much less 

land

 On desert or marginal land

 Can let farmers use farmland to 

make food

 Will lower food costs

 We make 3 gallons of fresh water 

for every gallon of ethanol

Technology Overview: Enhanced Algae

Algenol’s Direct to Ethanol®

process uses enhanced algae to 

produce ethanol

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VW @ Cyano Biofuels, May 02, 2012, Berlin – Algenol, Dirk Radzinski

Technology Overview: Photobioreactors

Low-cost mini-greenhouses are key to Direct to Ethanol® technology’s success 

 Plastic mini-greenhouses are modular and deployable at large scale

PBRs are producing ethanol today 

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VW @ Cyano Biofuels, May 02, 2012, Berlin – Algenol, Dirk Radzinski

Integrated Bio-Refinery

Fort Myers, Florida

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VW @ Cyano Biofuels, May 02, 2012, Berlin – Algenol, Dirk Radzinski

Integrated Bio-Refinery

Fort Myers, Florida

We are building as fast as we can

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VW @ Cyano Biofuels, May 02, 2012, Berlin – Algenol, Dirk Radzinski

ALGENOL CO2 Requirements

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CO2 Requirements:

First Plant: 120,000 t/yr. 

Standard Plant: 300,000 t/yr.

Ethanol

First Plant: 15 MGPY

Standard Plant: 37 MGPY

Distillate Fuels 

First Plant: 2 MGPY

Standard Plant: 6 MGPY

ok

Power Plant Algae-to-Fuels Fuels Production

Commercial plants
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Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)

Life Cycle Analysis Appears in: D. Luo, Z. Hu, D. Choi, 

V. Thomas, M. Realff, and R. Chance, Env. Sci. & Tech., 

2010, 44 pp 8670–8677. 

• Continuously updated as part of our 

DOE project.

• Renewable Fuel Standard 

requirements for greenhouse gas 

reduction are met in all scenarios 

studied. 

• LCA is important part of the evaluation 

of new technology options.

• Example: Polymer membrane 

technology (MTR), in 

combination with Algenol’s 

process simulations and 

integration concepts, yields 

lower carbon footprint, as well 

as lower CAPEX and OPEX.

• Carbon Capture and Reuse (CCR) 

scenarios can be evaluated for 

impact on carbon footprint

LCA study is designed to be 

evergreen

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Capture vs. Reuse

• Carbon Footprint: Direct To Ethanol® advantaged vs. CCS and greatly advantaged vs. Status Quo

Coal Power 

Plant

CO2 

Capture 

(1 atm)

Algenol

Ethanol 

Production

Ethanol 

Combustion

4.6 MW-eq. 

Fuel Energy

1 MWh

Electricity

3,400 lbs CO2 emissions for Algenol Case (which will 

avoid 3,000 lbs CO2 on fuel lifecycle)

Coal Coal (supply 

chain)

Luo et al (LCA, 1% 

condensate, VCD case)

2,620 

lbs CO2

570 lbs CO2

2,620 lbs CO2

210 lbs CO2

non-combustion

Algenol Plus Coal Power Plant

1 MWh Electricity

CO2 Sequestration

Gasoline 

Combustion

Compression 

Parasitic Load – 10%

3,580 lbs CO2 For Sequestration Case

4.6 MW-eq. Fuel 

Energy

5,610 lbs CO2 For No CO2 Capture Case

1 MWh Electricity Gasoline 

Combustion

4.6 MW-eq. Fuel 

Energy

Comparison to Sequestration (CCS) Comparison to Status Quo (No Capture)

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Algenol view on Carbon

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• The US government can/should play a role in maximizing industry incentives 

to capture carbon dioxide.

• We specifically request that EPA be explicit that new coal fired power plants 

be allowed to use CCR (reuse) in a par with CCS (sequestration) if the 

carbon emissions are within the target limits.

• We would also “ask” that:

 CCR be considered in the upcoming EPA rules governing existing 

power plants.

 CCR beyond Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) be fully concerned as an 

Administration priority in funding DOE & NETL.

 The Administration should take a leadership in ensuring that IRS use a 

broad and flexible interpretation of their rules in assessing REIT status 

to renewable projects using CCR technologies.