Scientists at the Polytechnic campus may soon be able to take their algae-based fuel production from the lab to a factory, an investor involved with the project said Thursday.

The challenge now is for researchers to take the exercises they do in the lab to create oil and scale it up to factory production, said Bill Harris, president and CEO of Science Foundation Arizona, a company that helps fund ASU algae research.

The next stage for the research team is creating jet fuel, Harris said.

When they get to that point, private investors will fund the process.

One of the project’s lead researchers is Milton Sommerfeld, a professor of applied sciences and mathematics.

Sommerfeld, who has worked with algae for 25 years, has been trying to find different strains of algae that grow fast and have high oil content.

“The biggest challenge has been having enough resources to move rapidly forward toward commercialization,” Sommerfeld said. “Funding has been a limiting factor.”

Still, the past four or five years have brought new resources, he said.

Last year, ASU announced a collaboration between the Laboratory for Algae Research and Biotechnology, Science Foundation Arizona and Heliae Development, LLC. The groups began partnering with and providing funds to the lab, where Sommerfeld works.

The new combination of efforts and funding has led professors and students to further their algae-to-oil research.

Organisms can be taken from the lab out into the field or outdoors, he said.

“We put them in outdoor reactors to see if they can handle the outdoor environment,” he said.

Some of the latest breakthroughs have involved the process of how researchers separate algae cells in water and extract oil from them.

These breakthroughs are due in part to young and intelligent minds on the project, Sommerfeld said.

Molecular and cellular microbiology doctoral student Joshua Wray, who came to ASU on a scholarship from Science Foundation Arizona, said he became interested in the algae fuel project four years ago.

“I like the fact that they’re doing research outside in the real-world conditions,” Wray said.

The research team works outdoors frequently to see what optimum conditions are outside to maximize soil yield, Wray said.

The domestic production of algae could have the potential to increase national fuel supply, increase the amount of American jobs and provide a more sustainable fuel source.

“This is a carbon-neutral process,” Wray said, describing a process where carbon dioxide is extracted from the environment and then re-released.

Engineers, biologists, micro engineers and other types of professionals are working on the project, Wray said, which makes it challenging but exciting.

“Everybody has to come together to work toward a common goal,” he said, referring to the daily research the team does.
“I believe in it,” Wray said.

Reach the reporter at ndgilber@asu.edu.