Ron Chance, a professor of the practice in Georgia Tech’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, is part of the Algenol team that was recently awarded the 2015 Presidential Green Chemistry Award in the Climate Change category from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Chance is Executive Vice President for engineering at Algenol, which was recognized for developing a blue-green algae to produce ethanol and other fuels. The algae uses CO2 from industrial emitters with sunlight and saltwater to create fuel while dramatically reducing the carbon footprint, costs and water usage, with no reliance on food crops as feedstocks. Algenol has demonstrated about 15–20 times the productivity of corn-based ethanol on a per acre basis.

In the past five years, Algenol moved this technology from laboratory to pilot scale and is currently completing the construction and commissioning of a two-acre facility as part of its integrated biorefinery project (a $52 million project with a $25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy).  Georgia Tech was sole academic partner in the DOE work and continues to work with Algenol on life cycle assessment and other aspects of process engineering.

Algenol’s overall process reduces the carbon footprint relative to gasoline by 60–80 percent, according to peer-reviewed published work from Georgia Tech.  A single 2,000 acre commercial Algenol module is the equivalent of planting 40 million trees or removing 36,000 cars from the road, according to research findings.

Chance, who holds a PhD from Dartmouth, joined Georgia Tech’s faculty after retiring from ExxonMobil in 2006. He holds appointments in both ChBE and the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He served as Distinguished Scientific Advisor Emeritus at ExxonMobil from 2006-2009 and as Associate Director for Georgia Tech’s Strategic Energy Institute from 2006-2013.  

Algenol believes its company’s technology has the potential to revolutionize the fuel industry. Algenol has demonstrated about 15–20 times the productivity of corn-based ethanol on a per acre basis.

In the past five years, Algenol moved this technology from laboratory to pilot scale and is currently completing the construction and commissioning of a two-acre facility as part of its integrated biorefinery project (a $52 million project with a $25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy).

Algenol’s overall process reduces the carbon footprint relative to gasoline by 60–80 percent, according to peer-reviewed published work from Georgia Tech. A single 2,000 acre commercial Algenol module is the equivalent of planting 40 million trees or removing 36,000 cars from the road, according to research findings.

Chance, who holds a PhD from Dartmouth, Chance joined Georgia Tech’s faculty after retiring from ExxonMobil in 2006. He holds appointments in both ChBE and the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He served as Distinguished Scientific Advisor Emeritus at ExxonMobil from 2006-2009.