Joule Moving Towards Commercial Production

Biofuel developer Joule Biotechnologies raised $70 million in its third round of funding the company announced this week.

Just two and half years after EnergyBoom's Harry Tournemille introduced Joule and its propriety Helioculture™ technology to our readers as "a start-up company from Cambridge, Mass.," the company has gained momentum and financial support is mounting.

In 2009, when the company unveiled its "revolutionary process," it withheld divulging many details of how the technology works other than saying that Helioculture uses the sun, carbon dioxide, waste water and engineered organisms to create transportation fuels.

"If I tell you what the organism is, I’m inviting everyone else to take part in a transformational, evolutionary, game-changing technology,’’ said Bill Sims, president and CEO of Joule Biotechnologies.

At the time, Sims claimed the firm had raised "well less than $50 million" in venture capital. As of Tuesday's announcement the company's coffers have swelled to $110 million in private investments. Although Joule is still holding its cards close to its chest not naming those entities that have participated in this latest round of funding, they have disclosed their founding venture capital investor, Flagship Ventures.

The company has come a long way in the last two years, highlighted by an outstanding 2011. Presenting the announcement at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, Sims said:

2011 was a year of milestones for Joule, including the groundbreaking at our first production site, the expansion of our pilot plant, the issuance of additional patents; now totalling 11, the transition to our new world-class headquarters and labs, and the successful close of our largest funding round to date.

Our goal since inception has been to enable large-scale, renewable fuel production at unprecedented costs and volumes in the near term, without the obstacles and slow pace of biofuel progress. On the heels of our latest funding round and technology advancement, we're in a very strong position to make it happen as planned.

The plan includes beginning the first phases of commercial development in 2012. The company will use the new funding to support the construction and operation of its first commercial-scale facility in Hobbs, New Mexico. Some of the money will also be used to further develop the technology.

Joule claims its technology avoids the obstacles of traditional biofuel production because it requires no agricultural land or fresh water. What does this mean? According to Joule, using Helioculture, the company can produce up to 15,000 gallons of diesel and 25,000 gallons of ethanol per acre annually at cost of $20 per barrel for diesel and $0.60 per gallon for ethanol.

Image Credit: An Ceann Corr via Flickr.