Helioculture

Joule Biotechnologies, Inc.

Joule Biotechnologies is a private start-up company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Joule was founded in 2007 by Flagship Ventures, a venture capital firm also based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Flagship Ventures has a portfolio of over 40 companies and manages over $600 million in early-stage funding. It prefers to invest in companies that focus on commercial opportunities either based on market opportunities or technological breakthrough.¹

Technology basics

Helioculture is a new technology to create fuel using solar energy. Sunlight and carbon dioxide interact with genetically modified photosynthetic organisms within a solar converter to create liquid fuel directly.

The photosynthetic organisms within the bioreactor interact with sunlight and carbon-dioxide to produce fuel within a biomass intermediary.

Source: http://newenergyandfuel.com/wp-conte...cess-Graph.jpg. Author: Joule Biotechnologies. Permission: New Energy and Fuel.

Joule claims that the Helioculture process “leverages highly engineered photosynthetic organisms to catalyze the conversion of sunlight and CO2“to usable transportation fuels and chemicals.”² The company also argues that it can manipulate the types of organisms within the bioreactor to produce different types of fuels, from ethanol to diesel.³ This process takes place within a bioreactor the company has termed a “SolarConverter”, which is a modular system. This type of system allows Joule to scale installations quickly and easily to meet industrial or commercial production demands. Helioculture installations do not need to be sited on arable land and the company believes installations could also be placed on commercial sites such as on rooftops.

Helioculture mixes gray-water and the photosynthetic organisms with carbon dioxide and sunlight to create liquid fuel.⁴ Because it does not require freshwater resources, nor agricultural land, Helioculture represents an opportunity to sidestep many of the criticisms that plague ethanol production from corn, namely that it requires a large number of resources that could be used for food creation. The process also does not require a biological intermediary, such as algae or ethanol produced from corn. With no biomass waste product, Helioculture also reduces waste products produced in the course of creating biofuels.

The company has yet to say what the organisms are within the bioreactor for fear of other start-up companies stealing their process. However, they have said that the organisms are not algae, which other start-up companies have been using in recent biofuel experiments.⁵ Joule claims that Helioculture technology is not a new technology for making biofuel. Rather, they claim to be producing “solar fuel” because there is no intermediary product, such as algae, corn, or switchgrass that must be grown or transported before being converted into biofuel. ^{6 7} This “solar fuel” can create the chemical equivalent of ethanol and other hydrocarbon-based fuels⁸ depending on which type of organism has been placed within the bioreactor and meets current vehicle fuel standards.

In November 2009, Joule announced that a new breakthrough in genome engineering allows them to directly produce hydrocarbons within laboratory settings. This capacity was based on the discovery of unique genes that code for enzymatic mechanisms that allow the direct synthesis of alkane and olefin molecules (the chemical composition of diesel).⁹ Though a pilot development is slated until early 2011, the President and CEO of Joule, Bill Simms, said of the breakthrough, “This achievement marks a critical step towards making renewable diesel fuel a reality at high volumes and competitive costs. We are accelerating the pace to create a direct replacement for petroleum-based diesel that can use today’s storage and distribution methods, with a very high net energy balance, and without the depletion of natural resources incurred by biomass-to-liquid approaches. It won’t happen overnight, but this latest milestone opens the door to an industry-changing technology.”¹⁰

Advantages

Joule claims that the Helioculture technology overcomes one of the main problems with current solar technology—namely, how to store the power for later use.

Helioculture installations can be located on non-arable land and don't require freshwater resources, lowering the competition with food production for natural resources

Source: http://joulebio.com/why-solar-fuel/how-it-works. Author: Joule Biotechnologies. Permission: Joule Biotechnologies, Inc.

Because the photosynthetic organisms directly converts sunlight into liquid fuel, the storage issues is contained to how efficient the liquid fuel is and how long it can last in storage. In a press release, Joule argued that the fuel “has up to 100 times the energy storage density of conventional batters and can be very efficiently stored and transported with no degradation of power.”¹¹

Joule estimates that it will be able to produce 20,000 gallons of ethanol per acre per year, which is represents a dramatically higher yield than conventional corn-based ethanol.¹² With an estimated 2.7 gallons of ethanol produced from a bushel of corn¹³ and an estimated corn yield of 182 bushels per acre,¹⁴ which is an equivalent yield of 492 gallons of ethanol per acre per year. Even if Joule’s yield has been overestimated by 50%, Helioculture could represent a dramatically efficient low-carbon emissions fuel source.

Because the bioreactor relies on inputs of sunlight and carbon dioxide, Helioculture can use any source of carbon dioxide to create biofuel. As such, Helioculture installments can be located next to carbon-dioxide producing power plants and Joule is currently looking to create joint-ventures with those providers for a commercial installment, which could range from anywhere between 1,000 and 10,000 acres.¹⁵

Helioculture is thought to be price-competitive with conventional fuels at a price of $50 per barrel of oil when current subsidies are included.¹⁶ The company announced plans to break ground on pilot plant in 2010 and hopes to open a commercial-scale operation in 2011, which would operate at the full 20,000 gallons per acre per year.

Leander is the first site for commercial-scale Helioculture and the installation should be operational within the first-half of 2010.

Development

In January 2010, Joule announced it had finalized the site of its first pilot project—a development in Leander, Texas. The pilot project will be the first large-scale opportunity for Joule to test Helioculture’s technological abilities in production of both ethanol and diesel fuels in a commercial setting. Joule chose Leander both for its solar potential and logistically convenient location. The plant should be operational within the first-half of 2010. ¹⁷

Criticisms of Helioculture

Helioculture is still in the early stages of development, as such there is very little information on the process publically available. Supposedly more information will be made available once the patents have gone through,¹⁸ however it is doubtful that Joule will want to release too much information to the public in fear of loosing competitiveness in the market.

Joule touts the high yield of Helioculture, however, these numbers are based on lab results and not on any field-testing. Once the pilot project in Texas is operational, more information will be known but until Helioculture has been tested in a commercial installment, all yield numbers must be taken with a grain of salt. Even within Joule’s official communications, the yield numbers have not been consistent. In July 2009 when Joule first announced its’ Helioculture technology to the general public, it estimated that it could produce 20,000 gallons of ethanol per acre per year at full-scale commercial sites.¹⁹ However, in a January 2010 press release, it announced that it estimated it could one-day achieve 25,000 gallons of ethanol per acre per year and 15,000 gallons of diesel per acre per year at full-scale commercial sites, while also admitting that current lab production yields were around 6,000 gallons of ethanol and diesel per acre per year.²⁰

Joule is a start-up company still attempting to raise the capital it needs to build up its’ infrastructure. As of July 2009, the company wouldn’t release how much capital it had raise, but allowed that is was far less than $50 million.²¹

Footnotes

1. Flagship Ventures. “About Us.” Flagship Ventures website.

2. Joule Biotechologies Inc, Press Release. July 27, 2009. “Joule Biotechnologies Introduces Revolutionary Process for Producing Renewable Transportation Fuels.” Business Wire. Accessed 2/26/2010.

3. Joule Biotechnologies Press Release. January 20, 2010. “Joule Biotechnologies Secures Pilot Site For Renewable Solar Fuel.”

4. Burnham, Michael. July 27, 2009. “Start-Up’s Biofuel Recipe Mixes CO2, Slime, and Sunshine.” The New York Times. Accessed 2/26/2010.

5. Buckman, Rebecca. July 27, 2009. “A Cagey Bet on Clean Tech.” Forbes. Accessed 2/27/2010. 

6. Lemon-Stein, Mara. “Joule Biotechnologies Unveils Liquid Fuel From Solar Power.” Venture Capital Dispatch, The Wall Street Journal. Accessed 2/27/2010.

7. Reuters. July 27, 2009. “U.S. company hopes to make fuel from sunlight, CO2.” Accessed 2/24/2010. 

8. Burnham, Michael. July 27, 2009. “Start-Up’s Biofuel Recipe Mixes CO2, Slime, and Sunshine.” The New York Times. Accessed 2/26/2010.

9. Joule Biotechnologies Inc., Press Release. November 9, 2009. “Joule Reports Breakthrough In Renewable Diesel Production.”

10. Joule Biotechnologies Inc., Press Release. November 9, 2009. “Joule Reports Breakthrough In Renewable Diesel Production.”

11. Joule Biotechologies Inc, Press Release. July 27, 2009. “Joule Biotechnologies Introduces Revolutionary Process for Producing Renewable Transportation Fuels.” Business Wire. Accessed 2/26/2010.

12. Bullis, Kevin. July 27, 2009. “A Biofuel Process to Replace All Fossil Fuels.” Technology Review. Accessed 2/27/2010.

13. Baker, Allen and Steven Zahniser. April 2006. “Ethanol Reshapes the Corn Market.” Amber Wave, Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Accessed 2/27/2010.

14. Iowa Corn. “Frequently Asked Questions About Corn in Iowa.” Iowa Corn website. Accessed 2/27/2010. 

15. Burnham, Michael. July 27, 2009. “Start-Up’s Biofuel Recipe Mixes CO2, Slime, and Sunshine.” The New York Times. Accessed 2/26/2010.

16. Lemon-Stein, Mara. “Joule Biotechnologies Unveils Liquid Fuel From Solar Power.” Venture Capital Dispatch, The Wall Street Journal. Accessed 2/27/2010.

17. Joule Biotechnologies Inc, Press Release. January 20, 2010. “Joule Biotechnologies Secures Pilot Site For Renewable Solar Fuel.”

18. Lemon-Stein, Mara. “Joule Biotechnologies Unveils Liquid Fuel From Solar Power.” Venture Capital Dispatch, The Wall Street Journal. Accessed 2/27/2010.

19. Lemon-Stein, Mara. “Joule Biotechnologies Unveils Liquid Fuel From Solar Power.” Venture Capital Dispatch, The Wall Street Journal. Accessed 2/27/2010.

20. Joule Biotechnologies Press Release. January 20, 2010. “Joule Biotechnologies Secures Pilot Site For Renewable Solar Fuel.” 

21. Buckman, Rebecca. July 27, 2009. “A Cagey Bet on Clean Tech.” Forbes. Accessed 2/27/2010.

Further Resources

Joule Biotechnologies, Inc.