Year: 2011-12

Company: Clear Springs

Liaison(s): Fred Boling

Clear Springs owns 18,000 acres of land in Bartow, Florida. The company plans to expand its eco-friendly community by venturing into new business opportunities involving renewable energy. One option considered by Clear Springs is algae cultivation for producing biofuels. To support this option, Clear Springs is in the process of evaluating an algal biofuel production technology developed by one of its potential partners. Though technologically feasible, Clear Springs is interested in an economic analysis of the derived products to assess the profitability of this potential investment. The Clear Springs TMP team was hired to assess the value and the markets for co-products produced by the algal biofuel technology under consideration by the client. The team evaluated each step of the algal biofuel production process, and carried out a detailed cost analysis to estimate production costs. In addition, the Team researched both high volume and high value co-product markets to identify profitable opportunities in the foods, fuel, and chemical markets. The final report evaluated multiple scenarios for commercializing these byproducts and provided recommendations for the most profitable options.