At a research farm nestled in Southern California’s Imperial County, Synthetic Genomics and ExxonMobil are cultivating acres of energy-rich algae. Their goal: have the technical ability to produce 10,000 barrels a day of low-emission algae biofuel.
Getting to 10,000 is an ambitious target. Still, if successful, it will provide the foundation to develop large algae farms, which could produce cleaner biofuels to power the world’s cars, trucks, planes or boats.
The research in the field is just starting and scaling output is motivating a group of energy farmers, who, day and night, are working toward turning algae into a reliable feedstock that could play a big part in helping meet our energy future.
