Nippon Oil and Hitachi Plant Technologies Ltd. taken an investment in Tokyo start-up Euglena Co. and have begun working together to develop the technology. Euglena Co. is currently focused on the growth the algae for application in the food and nutraceutical markets. The partners reportedly plan to build a test plant to culture euglena and extract oil from them to produce fuel. The companies also aim to start testing the fuel with airplanes and buses.

Using Euglena’s culturing technology, the organism can be grown efficiently in pools and ponds. Area for area, the production yield of euglena far exceeds that of sugarcane, corn and other crops commonly used to produce biofuels. The three firms see this as a distinct advantage for Japan and other countries where large-scale farming is difficult. At present, Japan imports most of its automotive-use biofuels from Brazil.

Nippon Oil, Hitachi Plant and Euglena aim to lower the production cost of their euglena-based jet fuel to around 70 yen per liter [about $2.90 per gallon US] to keep the supply price not much higher than that of conventional jet fuel.