KGI's Matt Croughan Joins Advisory Board of Sapphire Energy, Inc.

Matt Croughan, George B. and Joy Rathmann Professor and Director of the Amgen BioProcessing Center at KGI, has been appointed to the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the San Diego-based Sapphire Energy, Inc., which is currently preparing its first algae-to-energy commercial demonstration facility. As a member of the Board, he will join leading experts across key scientific and engineering disciplines in actively advising the company as it refines its developmental process and technologies for making algae-based Green Crude a viable alternative fuel solution.

"I am advising them regarding scale up of their algae-based bioprocess. It has some parallels to scale up of biopharmaceutical and wine fermentation processes, but also some interesting differences. They are the leading company regarding biofuels from algae, and it is very exciting to be part of this grand effort," Croughan said.

Representing an entirely new direction in the industry, Sapphire's Green Crude products and processes differ significantly from other forms of biofuel because they are made solely from photosynthetic microorganisms (algae and cyanobacteria), using sunlight and CO2 as their feedstock; are not dependent on food crops or valuable farmland; do not use potable water; do not result in biodiesel or ethanol; enhance and replace petroleum-based products; are compatible with existing infrastructure; and are low carbon, renewable and scalable. Sapphire has an R&D facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and is currently building the first Integrated Algal BioRefinery in Columbus, New Mexico.