Founded in 2006, Algenol converts CO₂ from industrial emitters into transportation fuels through its Direct-To-Ethanol process. n the Algenol direct-to-ethanol (DTE) process, ethanol is produced from photosynthetically-produced pyruvate, and secreted by the cyanobacteria into the surrounding aqueous media. It is then isolated and purified, while the algal biomass is processed to extract and produce a bio-oil co-product.

The algal bio-oil can be used to produce biodiesel, renewable diesel, or other bio-oil-derived products. Spent algal biomass is gasified to produce bio-methane that is used onsite in a combined heat and powerunit.

The company is working to commercialize this technology and scale production of its products. Algenol has recently commenced initial operations of a pilot commercial module at its Florida development campus, which builds on the successful launch of a demonstration project in India.

We are very pleased to expand our investment into Algenol. This technology has the best chance of actually reducing carbon emissions while producing cheap fuel in the process.

—Alejandro Gonzalez, founder of BioFields

BioFields’ most recent investment builds atop previous commitments to Algenol that began in 2007. With this investment, more than $260 million dollars have been invested in and granted to Algenol from BioFields and Reliance Industries, a Fortune Global 500 company based in Mumbai, India, as well as the US Department of Energy and Lee County, Florida.