Joule Unlimited: ‘Fuel from Thin Air’ Comes Closer, Clearer
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Massachusetts, the secretive Joule Unlimited (then known as Joule Biotechnologies) emerged late last year from “stealth mode” with the startling announcement that their technology could produce up to 15,000 gallons per acre of drop-in hydrocarbon fuels, using only sunlight, CO2 and (fresh, brackish or saline) water as inputs. The Solar Converter – including radical new micro-organism and a technology known as helioculture – is the heart of Joule’s IP.
Did it the announcement change everything? No. Will it change the biofuels competitive landscape? It already has, and conceptually contains those Four Horsemen of a Market Apocalyse that VC so dearly love: disruptive, scalable, competitive, protected technology.
…Almost a year has passed, and Joule has constructed and is now operating a pilot plant in Leander, Texas; they say they have demonstrated proof of concept on 10 renewable chemicals back in the lab they describe as “blendstock for end products”.
…“The SolarConverter is a device unlike any ever developed. It provides water to the organism, captures CO2 and photons, managing therms, mixing the solution, product separation – water transfer and final separation facility in a continuous process extinguishing all photons.
…“Commencing with e.coli, they have used that well-studied bacteria as a base for layering on a series of genetic-based skills – a skill for fixing carbon dioxide, a skill for grabbing water molecules, a skill for fixing photons – and a skill for converting those inputs – in a series of chemical transformations known as a metabolic pathway – into a hydrocarbon which can be used as a fuel. All while using e.coli’s system for preserving its own life and regulating its own systems.
…An Appendix: a look at Joule’s magic bug, in a little more (technical) detail. Warning: We’ll try to keep it fairly simple, but this material is not drop-dead simple for those uninitiated in a little synthetic biology. READ MORE
