The US Navy has awarded a contract to renewable oil and bioproducts company Solazyme to provide the world’s first 100% algae-derived jet fuel for testing and certification.
Under the contract, the company will deliver 1,500gal of SolaHRJET-5 renewable algae derived jet fuel to the Navy for compatibility testing in 2010.
Solazyme CEO Jonathan Wolfson said that the fuels reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 85% versus standard petroleum-based fuels.
“Since producing the world’s first algae derived jet fuel in September 2008, we have focused our research on developing a process to scale production at a commercial level while driving down costs,” Wolfson said.
Solazyme will use its algal renewable oil production process in conjunction with renewable jet fuel processing technology from Universal Oil Products, a subsidiary of Honeywell, to provide 100% algae derived jet fuel for testing and fuel certification satisfying the military specifications.
The DoD has recently contracted Solazyme to supply Soladiesel F-76, renewable F-76 diesel fuel, which is a naval distillate fuel used in ships.
