Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Sapphire Energy Links With Engineering Firm

San Diego-based Sapphire Energy, which is developing algae-based crude oil production processes, has inked a deal with gas and engineering firm The Linde Group, the companies said this morning. They two said they are in a multi-year agreement to develop a low-cost system to deliver carbon dioxide to commercial scale, open-pond, algae-to-fuel cultivation systems. Linde will supply the CO2 to Sapphire's commercial demonstration facility in Columbus, New Mexico. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Sapphire is looking to tap CO2 emissions from power stations and chemical plants as its source of CO2. Linde apparently has been involved in similar installations in the Netherlands. Sapphire is backed by Monsanto, ARCH Venture Partners, Wellcome Trust, Venrock, and Cascade Investment, and also is backed by $104.5M from the American Recovery and Re-Investment Act.