FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:                                                                                                    Lisa Mortenson          
                                                                                                                       Community Fuels
                                                                                                                       760-942-9306  ext 102

Community Fuels to be Featured at Algae Biomass Summit
San Francisco November 15 – 16, 2007

Chris Guay, PhD, Director of Research and Development for Community Fuels, will present “Algal Biodiesel: Opportunities and Obstacles.”

Encinitas, California, October 1, 2007— An intense interest in using algal bio-oils as feedstock for biodiesel production has developed as a result of high petroleum prices and the projected shortfall in the supply of conventional agricultural feedstocks relative to the demands of the rapidly growing biodiesel industry.  While much effort has been devoted to investigating large-scale cultivation of algae, much less attention has been focused on developing cost and energy efficient processes for converting algal biomass to biodiesel on an industrial scale.  This area contains some of the biggest challenges that will need to be overcome in order to make the production of biodiesel from algal biomass commercially feasible.

Current methods for processing algal biomass include solvent extraction of bio-oils (followed by conventional transesterification to produce biodiesel esters), and direct transesterification (i.e., the direct reaction of algal biomass with an alcohol in the presence of a catalyst to produce biodiesel esters).  Applying thermochemical processes (e.g., gasification, pyrolysis) to algal biomass in order to produce hydrocarbons for use as liquid fuels has also been suggested.  Chris Guay, PhD, Director of Research and Development for Community Fuels, will present a general overview of these processes along with a discussion of their benefits, drawbacks, and current roadblocks from the perspectives of cost, overall energy budget, and environmental effects.

The Algae Biomass Summit is an invitation-only event to be held in San Francisco on November 15 – 16, 2007.  You can learn more about the Summit at http://www.algaebiomasssummit.com.  

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