The Sapphire Energy Story

Sapphire Energy was founded with one mission in mind: to change the world by developing a domestic, renewable source of energy that benefits the environment and hastens America′s energy independence. What began as a debate among friends in early 2007 on how to create the perfect biofuel, by integrating the principals of industrial biotechnology, has become today's Sapphire Energy with facilities in San Diego, CA; Orange Country, CA; Las Cruces, NM; and Columbus, NM.

Sapphire Energy is backed by a team of the nation's leading researchers, scientists, and blue-ribbon investors in early-stage companies. Sapphire has already developed breakthrough technology to produce fungible, drop-in transportation fuels—including 91 octane gasoline, 89 cetane diesel, and jet fuel—all out of algae, sunlight, and carbon dioxide (CO2). Or, what we like to call Green Crude.

From the start, our goal has been ambitious: to become the world’s leading producer of renewable, drop-in replacement fuels for gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. We’re on the right track and all indications support that. To meet our goal, we brought together a team of people who, as entrepreneurs, investors, scientists and concerned citizens, hold several shared beliefs. We believe that climate change is a threat to our environment and that dependence on imported oil is a threat to our national security and the security of future generations. We believe that existing alternatives to imported transportation fuels are too slow to commercialize, too expensive to produce, and have their own harmful environmental trade-offs. 

From the start, our goal has been ambitious: to become the world′s leading producer of renewable, drop-in replacement  fuels for gasoline, diesel, and jet.

We believe that, through the application of vision and technology, we have found a better way to achieve energy independence and minimize greenhouse gas emissions.

With the support of a syndicate of respected investors, including: Arch Venture Partners; The Wellcome Trust, the world’s largest biomedical research charity; Cascade Investment, an investment holding company owned by Bill Gates; and Venrock, the venture capital arm of the Rockefeller family, our vision is becoming a reality.

After two years of dedicated research and development, we developed an algae-based fuel that is renewable, is produced in the United States, has a low carbon footprint, is price-competitive, and fits seamlessly into our existing energy infrastructure.

In 2008, Sapphire successfully produced 91-octane gasoline from algae that fully conforms to ASTM standard. In 2009, we participated in a test flight using algae-based jet fuel in a Boeing 737-800 twin-engine aircraft. That same year, we provided the fuel for the world’s first cross-country tour of a gasoline vehicle powered with a complete drop-in replacement fuel containing a mixture of hydrocarbons refined directly from algae-based Green Crude. In 2010, we began construction for our Green Crude Farm in Southern New Mexico, a project that was awarded more than $100 million in a federal grant  and loan guaranty from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act through the U.S. Department of Energy and a loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Bio-refinery Assistance Program. The Green Crude Farm was commissioned in August 2012, and is currently operating in a commercial test phase. 

Today, Sapphire Energy sits at the intersection of Energy, Agriculture, and Biotechnology. We are at the forefront of an entirely new industry category—Green Crude Production—with the potential to profoundly change America’s energy and petrochemical landscape. We hope you will join us!