Eldorado Biofuels

Press Release

kathrin — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:54:31 +0000

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

NMSBA awards Eldorado $100,000 grant

The New Mexico Small Business Assistance Program has approved a $100,000 grant under their leveraged projects program. The NMSBA leveraged projects program allows multiple small businesses that share technical challenges to access the unique expertise and capabilities of the Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories requesting assistance collectively for a larger project.

This grant allows Eldorado Biofuels and its co-applicants to have Los Alamos National Lab conduct advanced algae growth studies utilizing treated produced water originating from a variety of sources across New Mexico.

Business Weekly reports:

kathrin — Tue, 17 May 2011 19:45:04 +0000

Friday, May 6, 2011

Eldorado taps produced water for algae biofuel

Paul Laur, president and CEO of Eldorado Biofuels LLC, sees bright green in the toxic waste water that plagues the oil and gas industry. Algae green, that is. Eldorado is launching a pilot project this month in Lea County, in the heart of southeast New Mexico’s oil patch, to clean the toxins out of produced water and use it to grow algae for biofuels. If successful, Eldorado’s green crude could attract a lot of greenbacks from investors, Laur said. That’s critical, because Laur expects to pump about $2 million into the project to eventually reach 20 acres of biofuel production. “It all hinges on proof of concept on a commercial scale,” Laur said. “We’ve only done it so far on a bench scale, but we’re pursuing grants and private funding to scale up to 10 acres, then 20. If we prove it, I don’t think financing will be a problem.”

The company has invested about $500,000 to launch operations. It also received a three-year, $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy through the National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts, a coalition of national laboratories, research universities and private companies that formed last year with $49 million in DOE backing.

Eldorado is one of 12 biofuel businesses working with the NAABB, said José Olivares, Los Alamos National Laboratory’s biofuels program manager and executive director for the biofuels alliance.

“Eldorado has developed technology to clean produced water to a fairly good extent,” Olivares said. “We’re now testing that water to cultivate algae.”

Using produced water to grow algae provides many benefits, Laur said. It resolves the need for massive amounts of water to grow algae on a commercial scale in New Mexico’s water-strapped, arid environment. It also provides a separate revenue stream for El Dorado from oil and gas operators, who Laur believes will pay to get rid of produced water rather than treat it themselves and pump it back underground.
Such extra revenue is critical to make commercial-scale algae biofuel operations economical. “We have ample sunshine and land to grow algae in New Mexico, but the missing component is water for thousands of acres of algae production,” Laur said. “Our niche is using produced water from the oil and gas industry.”

Gregg Fulfer of the Fulfer Oil and Cattle Co. in Jal said Eldorado could attract a lot of interest from operators looking to cut costs when disposing of produced water. Laur’s project will be located on Fulfer’s property, where about 100 oil wells generate some 1,000 barrels of contaminated water per day. “I end up with about 100 barrels of water for each barrel of oil I produce,” Fulfer said. “I usually just inject it back into the oil formation, but that’s very costly. It would be a big help if I can send it to an algae plant instead.” Depending on contamination levels, Fulfer said it costs between $1 and $3.50 for each barrel of produced water injected back underground. That’s a huge expense for Lea County operators, who dispose of about 400 million barrels of produced water every year, according to the DOE’s Natural Energy Technology Laboratory. “If Eldorado can reclaim that water and find a beneficial use for it, that would be a very valuable proposition,” Fulfer said.

Eldorado has partnered with Alfonz Viszolay of VM Technology Inc. in Santa Fe to clean produced water. Viszolay is an engineer and inventor who has worked with algae-based fuel and waste water treatment since the 1970s. “We’re employing his technology,” Laur said. “We have exclusive rights to develop and market it to treat water for algae-based biofuels.” Economically growing and converting algae to biofuel on a commercial scale will be challenging. To date, no technology startup has demonstrated an ability to produce algae-based biofuels at a cost competitive with oil, currently about $100 a barrel. That’s why extra revenue streams are critical for Eldorado. Along with charging to treat produced water, the company will sell algae byproducts, such as feed for cattle or fertilizer. But with oil prices climbing, Laur believes algae-based biofuels will become more economical. “I fully expect oil prices to reach $400 per barrel in our lifetime,” Laur said. “There’s a sense of complacency now, but even if oil goes to $200 per barrel, algae biofuel development will become a Manhattan Project on steroids.”

Eldorado will produce its first barrel of biofuel by July. The company has broken ground on its project, and Laur expects to employ 100 by year-end. New Mexico Junior College in Hobbs will train employees, said Vice President for Training and Outreach Robert Rhodes. “Eldorado has a lot of support because it’s building synergies with the oil and gas industry,” Rhodes said. “We have a lot of confidence in this project.”

Premium content from New Mexico Business Weekly

By Kevin Robinson-Avila, NMBW Senior Reporter

Date: Friday, May 6, 2011, 4:00am MDT

Link to Article

LANL News Center:

kathrin — Tue, 17 May 2011 19:41:52 +0000

April 4, 2011

LANL, Sandia celebrate 10 years of success at New Mexico Small Business Assistance fest

The New Mexico Small Business Assistance (NMSBA) program is celebrating “10 Years of Innovation” . One local business that benefited is Eldorado Biofuels.
Over the past decade, NMSBA, a partnership between Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and the state of New Mexico, has created or maintained nearly 1,550 jobs, provided 1,736 small businesses with $25.2 million worth of research hours and materials, increased small companies’ revenues by $82 million, and reduced their operating costs by $45 million. These companies have, in turn, invested $19 million into New Mexico goods and services.

Last year, NMSBA provided $4.6 million in assistance to 339 companies in 27 counties. One local business that benefited is Eldorado Biofuels. Through NMSBA, LANL’s Chemistry Division analyzed the composition of water created through the company’s Ultra-Violet Ozone Oxidation (UVOX) water treatment system and found that the water produced in the oil wells near Jal, New Mexico, had the right constituents for algal growth. Another example is Samitaur Medical Technologies: the NMSBA project led to a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between Samitaur and LANL to develop an innovative miniaturized neurological stimulator that can be used with brain implants that regulate epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, and other neurological disorders. Finally, through NMSBA, LANL, and SNL scientists helped the Santa Cruz Irrigation District determine the sources of sediment that fill the Santa Cruz reservoir, an Española Valley water source that services about 3,000 regional farms, and recommend solutions for its management.

About Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and URS for the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration.
Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.

LANL news media contact: Tatjana K. Rosev, (505) 665-4803, trosev@lanl.gov

Link to Article

Biodiesel Magazine reports:

admin — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 21:09:53 +0000

December 20, 2010

The National Alliance for Biofuels and Bioproducts has successfully produced ASTM-quality biodiesel from oil extracted from algae.

The NAABB, made up of scientists and engineers from universities, private industry and national laboratories, received $44 million from the U.S. DOE to develop a commercial process for algal biofuel. In its first year, it has produced a small sample of the algal fuel. The oil was supplied by Eldorado Biofuels and was converted using the T300 solid catalyst system developed by Catilin Inc. The consortium will now disperse samples of the algae-based fuel to all 13 of its members for further analysis.

See Biodiesel Magazine for more

NAABB Consortium Announces:

admin — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 16:51:55 +0000

November 17, 2010

Successful Conversion of Algal Oil to High Quality Biodiesel

Method employs cost saving catalyst and produces useful byproducts

St. Louis, MO, November 17, 2010 – The National Alliance for Biofuels and Bioproducts (NAABB), a consortium of leading scientists and engineers from universities, private industry, and national laboratories announced today that they have met a significant benchmark by successfully producing biodiesel using oil extracted from algae that meets specifications set by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). ASTM develops international standards for materials, products, systems and services used in construction, manufacturing and transportation.

Eldorado Biofuel, one of 13 industry members of the NAABB consortium, provided the algal oil while Catilin, Inc. converted the oil to biodiesel using the company’s commercially available T300 solid catalyst. Conventional conversion methods use highly caustic materials such as sodium hydroxide. Using Catilin’s method, researchers verified that they could produce high-quality algal based biofuel that meets ASTM standards more efficiently and economically while producing highly purified glycerin, a valuable byproduct which can be used by the food and pharmaceutical industry.

“We are very pleased to have demonstrated that our catalytic process is effective for algal oil feedstocks. Not only are the conversion costs reduced relative to the conventional process but the quality byproducts produced in the process will open additional markets,” said David Sams, vice president, business development, Catilin Inc.

“We are happy we could provide this resource to help move the algae biofuels industry forward,” said Paul Laur, CEO, Eldorado Biofuels.

“This step represents a major success and illustrates the high level of interaction between members which is a good sign that we are starting to reap the benefits of the consortium concept,” said Jose Olivares, executive director, NAABB. “It demonstrates our member’s commitment to developing the industry.”

The next step will be to distribute samples of the ASTM algae based biodiesel among members of the NAABB consortium for follow-up analyses necessary for engine emissions testing.

About NAABB

The National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts is a consortium of industries, universities and national laboratories led by the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, MO and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. The overall goal of the National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts consortium is to produce new technologies that can be implemented by our commercial partners and others developing the algal biofuel industry. In order to achieve this goal, our program incorporates major objectives in Algal Biology, Cultivation, Harvesting/Extraction, and Conversion to fuels, Coproduct development, and Economic/energy-balance modelling and resource management components that will establish the technologies’ viability for overall sustainability.

Media contact: Karla Goldstein, (314) 406-4287,

About Catilin Inc

Catilin is a technology company focused on the global clean technology market including biofuels and biochemicals. Catilin’s first commercially available catalyst, T300, greatly reduces the cost of producing a gallon of biodiesel while creating a superior quality biodiesel and glycerin co-product. The pioneering research of Catilin, in conjunction with Ames Laboratory and Iowa State University, continues to focus on the future of clean technology, including award-winning research on biochemical extraction from algal oil.

Media contact: Dave Sams, (415) 389-0295

About Eldorado Biofuels

Eldorado Biofuels, based in Santa Fe, NM, is committed to commercializing sustainable technologies to help provide the water needed to grow enough algae to meet the National Renewable Fuel Standard for advanced biofuels requirement of 5.5 billion gallons by 2015. Eldorado Biofuels is tasked in NAABB with recycling waste water generated in oil and natural gas production for growing algae.

Media contact: Paul Laur, (505) 670-8490

About The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

Founded in 1998, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is a not-for-profit research institute with a mission to improve the human condition through plant science. Research at the Danforth Center will feed the hungry and improve human health, preserve and renew the environment, and enhance the St. Louis region and Missouri as a world center for plant science.

Media contact: Karla Goldstein, (314) 406-4287