Green crude may come to Las Cruces
Although Las Cruces is known for its desert landscape, a bio-fuel company may be looking to grow algae there. Sapphire Energy has found a way to extract what is known as "green crude" from the water plant. This green-colored crude is the chemical equivalent of sweet crude oil.
The company's Website calls it "the world's first renewable gasoline," and states:
Sapphire Energy has built a revolutionary platform that uses photosynthetic microorganisms to produce a renewable, high-value replacement for fossil fuel petroleum. This domestic crude oil requires only sunlight, CO2 and non-potable water – and can be produced at massive scale on non-arable land.
An executive summary has been given to the city of Las Cruces by the company in an effort to strike a deal for land in return for economic development within the city's West Mesa Industrial Park. The Las Cruces Sun states:
A proposed ordinance and economic development project is on the Las Cruces City Council's agenda today that calls for Sapphire to buy 10 acres of land in the West Mesa Industrial Park at market value. Sapphire would create 30 jobs at 120 percent of the average salary for the area and would invest $6 million in the industrial park. After that, the city would convey 90 acres surrounding the original site to the company — with a value of $1.35 million — at no additional cost.
The company seems to have the confidence of investors. According to a recent report by the Guardian UK:
Major investors are already opening their cheque books: Sapphire has raised a total of $50m (£25m) in venture capital in recent weeks, the highest amount ever for an algae biotech company, including a significant investment from the UK's Wellcome Trust.
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