“We believe we can play a significant role in helping refineries realize the potential of processing biomass into green fuels,” says Umberto della Sala, chief executive of Foster Wheeler.

PetroAlgae believes the partnership will fully advance processes that will transform large quantities of biomass into green diesel, gasoline, jet fuel and specialty chemicals.

“These solutions offer the promise of transforming sunlight into fuels, thereby providing countries around the world with yet another option on the path to sustainable and clean energy independence,” says PetroAlgae chief executive John Scott.

He says the partners expect to more rapidly integrate PetroAlgae’s technology with current refinery systems using Foster Wheeler’s engineering and refining expertise.

PetroAlgae uses strains of tiny organisms developed by researchers at Arizona State University. The company, based in Melbourne, Florida, says it can mass produce them using both open air pools and bioreactors.

The company claims the resulting goo is rich in protein and carbohydrates and can yield 25 to 100 times as much green fuel per acre as corn or soybeans. After protein is removed, the remaining biomass can be sent directly to oil refineries to be processed into fuels, according to PetroAlgae.

The company says that if it can scale up its production process to commercial scale, which it expects to do, it will be applicable to non-arable land and remove competition with the food supply.