It’s rare and extremely gutsy in the “green” movement to see a company with an awarded idea and a lot of dollars at stake turnaround and say, “hey, this ain’t going to work” but that is kind of what Aurora Biofuels did. From 2006 – 2009, their primary focus was creating renewable biofuels using micro-algae. Micro-algae generates four to five times the energy biomass per hectares than that of conventional crops so their goal was to produce a micro-algae derived oil that would reduce our need for petroleum and compete with less efficient plant based biofuels.
Then in early 2010, a University of Virginia study put a huge hurdle in front of Aurora Biofuels. Their algae-based fuel production’s need for water and fertilizer would generate more greenhouse gas emissions than would be saved. The problem lies in how the Aurora Biofuel’s micro-algae grows in suspended tubes and without the aid of soil. According to one of the studies authors, Andres Clarens, this problem does not occur with normal crops:
“If you grow corn, you rotate the field with soybeans so you get nitrogen fixation,” Clarens said. “You still have to fertilize a lot, but if you’re growing algae … all that fertilizer has to come from you, and the fertilizing demands are much higher.”
One of the solutions offered by the U. of Virginia study was to take the algae out of the tubes and use urine-removed wastewater as the primary fertilizer. But this solution would be limited by logistics and the need to place algae ponds close to wastewater treatment facilities.
What to do? Aurora Biofuels could pay for a study that counters UVA’s results and continue on the same renewable biofuels path or they could pursue a more meaningful application of their algae derived product. Aurora Biofuels chose the latter and decided to find a better use of their product and even went one step further by changing their name to Aurora Algae. Yes, they will continue to research and produce renewable biofuels but they will also focus on algae based products for food, pharmaceuticals and aquaculture. Their CEO, Greg Bafalis, introduced Aurora Algae’s new strategy in a press release on September 13, 2010:
“What we’ve created over that time is a photosynthetic algae-based platform for growth—growth in terms of the number of high-value, low-cost products we will provide our customers; growth in the number of addressable markets for our company; and growth in the impact we will have on some of the world’s most pressing challenges including carbon emission reduction, fresh water conservation, and global demand for protein and sustainable Omega-3 production.”
For Jubbling, it’s refreshing and rare to see a clean technology company turn on their original idea and try to find a more practical application of their product and that is what Aurora Algae did. We commend them for choosing the path of responsibility. Other companies would do well to abandon grand and often impractical ideas that will drain funding and stifle true progress.
Here is a video profiling Aurora Biofuels, the 2006 runner-up in the Transportation category of the Cleantech Open:
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