Tom's Comments

Introduction

Diversified Energy Corporation (www.diversified-energy.com), a privately-held alternative and renewable energy company, and XL Renewables (www.xlrenewables.com), a biorefinery project developer, have developed and are commercializing an innovative algae production system. Aimed at addressing the shortage and rising prices of oils for biofuels production, coupled with accelerating environmental concerns from fossil fuel emissions, Simgae™ (for simple algae) offers a low cost and simple approach to growing algae at large scale. The focus on cost and simplicity addresses the major reason algae production has yet to materialize in any meaningful volumes. Diversified Energy® (DEC) has been granted an exclusive worldwide license from XL Renewables (XLR) to the patent-pending Simgae™ technology.

Simgae™ Overview

Algae has received substantial attention as a high-promise source of biofuel oils to alleviate the supply shortages and high prices of traditional feedstock sources like soybean, palm, canola, animal fats, etc. Since the feedstock input can contribute 60 – 80% of the biofuel production cost, keeping the feedstock cheap and readily available is paramount for continued growth of the biofuels industry. Algae has been shown to produce 30X more oil and require 1/100th the water to grow per surface area compared to other terrestrial crops. In addition, the non-oil components (i.e., carbohydrates and proteins) left over after oil extraction can be used for a multitude of purposes – as inputs into animal feed, fertilizer, dyes, etc. or used to produce ethanol via fermentation or syngas through gasification, among a multitude of other uses. These additional applications greatly enhance the overall marketability and economics of producing algae. Algae takes very little care to grow, only needing sunlight, water, CO2 and nutrients mainly in the form of nitrogen and phosphorous. Its ability to ingest CO2 and produce oxygen through photosynthesis is particularly attractive as many countries are rushing to find ways to curtail carbon emissions.

http://diversified-energy.com/index.cfm?s_webAction=simgae