Sapphire Energy, Inc., one of the world leaders in algae-based green crude oil production, announced the first phase of its Green Crude Farm, the world’s first commercial demonstration algae-to-energy facility,
is now operational. Construction of this first phase, which began on June 1, 2011, was completed on time and on budget. When completed, the facility will produce 1.5 million gallons per year of crude oil and consist of approximately 300 acres of algae cultivation ponds and processing facilities. By reaching this key milestone, Sapphire Energy is on target to make algae-based Green Crude a viable alternative fuel solution capable of significantly reducing the nation’s need for foreign crude oil, which will serve as the blueprint for scalable algae biofuel facilities globally.
As of today, Phase One of the project has reached the following milestones:
- Construction: Completed on time and on budget
- Unit Operations: Conducting all united operations, including cultivation, harvest and extraction in a continuous process
- Cultivation: Biomass productivity exceeding the company’s goals
- Harvest: Successfully harvested 81 tons of biomass
In building the Green Crude Farm:
- 634 full-time equivalent employees were hired throughout the entire construction phase
- $16 million was directly invested with local New Mexico contractors
[Editor’s note: Because this is a press release, it should be taken with a grain of salt.]