Joule’s Hybrid Solar-Fuel Pilot Plant to Land in Texas Joule Biotechnologies — the folks behind the unusual hybrid solar-biofuel technology that officially launched last year — say they will build their first pilot plant in Leander, Texas and it will be operational within the first half of this year. The solar system, called a HelioCulture, concentrates sunlight onto the mixture, and the engineered photosynthetic organism — which the company won’t disclose more about, only to say it’s not algae — converts sunlight and carbon dioxide into ethanol or a hydrocarbon-based fuel called a “SolarFuel.†Because each solar converter system is modular, Joule can scale up and down a project with more or less converters.
While I wish them luck, it seems a little snake oily to me at this point. Reading through their stuff I couldn't find any information about any conversion efficiencies for example. They claim liquid fuel for ~$50 barrel. How does that compare with conventional PV solar at ~12-15% conversion efficiency? It will be interesting to watch and see where these guys go. I'm still waiting for Nano-solar to pan out.
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I always hear about these types of projects, but they never seem to come to fruition.
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Thanks for the update on this. I've been waiting to hear when this project goes into "full production" as for you other guys, shame on you... there are a lot of projects and developments that have been proposed and developed in the last 4 years. (most said they would take longer... excluding anything produced by GM.. hehe)
The fact that they've secured land for pilot testing means they're getting to a more serious stage. Of course, testing means just that. There's no guarantee that the technology will work. But if it does it'll be a very good thing. What gives me some concern, however, is this secret "engineered organism".
Like I said, I do in all good faith wish them luck. My point is that I have seen/read about "the next big thing" for a generation, and only rarely do things pan out as well as one hoped (hyped perhaps) Ipod was an exception though!
