Our Breakthrough in Carbon Negative Fuels and other discoveries involving the work we are doing has outpaced our content on the web site. Take a look at the “EVENT” page for our latest press releases and the “Media” page contains our first technology demonstration video. Our process of creating Carbon Negative Fuels has the potential of radically changing the status quo. This process will allow algae farming to displace liquid fossil fuels for cars, trucks, planes and ships, ending America’s dependence on foreign oil. If solar and wind energy can displace coal and fossil fuels for electrical energy, our processes will effectively be able to lower Carbon Dioxide (Green House Gas) in the Atmosphere. The two main by-products are a tremendous amount of new food production and a material that will help create new fertile soils.

We plan to update the web site to reflect our work and new discoveries in the near future.

Here at Desert Sweet Biofuels we are thoroughly committed to producing a high quality renewable resource...algae. From that algae we will create a form of biodiesel that not only burns in existing engines without adding Greenhouse Gases, but also is capable of removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Our company has a long history of being environmentally friendly and sustainable. The algae biodiesel technology that we are developing will have a major impact on Global Climate Change. Biodiesel in the very near future may change the way that the world views conventional petroleum products.

Algae biodiesel produced at a price below $3.00 per gallon will be our goal. Our existing high intensity Aquaculture production ponds and our research into the design of economic production facilities give us the ability to have a good understanding of what we may be able to accomplish. Desert Sweet Biofuels will be a new organization that will use the facilities and work accomplished by Desert Sweet Shrimp to pioneer the husbandry and production techniques required for the economic production of algae Biofuels and biodiesel.

The Desert Sweet Biofuels test facility is located on over 390 acres of land, with over 50 Aquaculture ponds. Over the last 13 years the design of ponds have been refined with the emphasis placed on the ability to control the pond's environment and cost. We have also developed the ability to drain, sterilize and to be back in production in a day. The technical description of our main test production area would be an open modified continuous batch system. This system gives us the capability of continuously harvesting algae plus the ability to change a pond to a different type of algae in a single day at an industrial scale.

America desperately needs this technology now. The billions of dollars sent overseas for oil and the continuing release of greenhouse gases must be stopped. We plan to prove that algae biofuels can be produced at an industrial scale within the next two years. The cost of this work in an accelerated time line will be significant. We wish to team up with organizations or individuals to acquire the resources to make this happen.

Why Desert Sweet Biofuels

It is indeed remarkable that years of work and experimentation in the art of growing shrimp in the Arizona desert gives us a tremendous head start in the commercial production of algae. An old saying in the shrimp business is that "shrimp farmers don't raise shrimp, they raise algae". Desert Sweet Shrimp, which started as Wood brother's Farms, has been involved in Aquaculture since the 1980's. In 1995 we started raising shrimp in Arizona with the first significant production in 1997. We have done hundreds of experiments in Aquaculture production at a farming scale. What we have learned is the husbandry techniques of how to raise shrimp. This would be akin to the first person to learn how to grow cotton: knowledge of when to plant the type of seed to grow, how deep to plant the seed, the techniques to watering, harvesting and other husbandry practices. We have learned how to grow a sustainable, environmentally friendly shrimp that is characterized by their pure sweet taste. This experience allows us to have no doubt that we can achieve our goals with algae and biofuels.

We believe that our algae production potential is huge. To our knowledge algae grows faster here than any place else. We have seen this with a variety of crops. The intense sunlight and hot nights are very inducive to explosive growth. It is not unusual to see the water bubbling from oxygen being given off as a byproduct from algae growth, or the water to be thick like pea soup.

Having been a SPF (specific pathogen free) facility, we understand and have the working knowledge and infrastructure of maintaining a clean facility, free of unwanted organisms. However, at this time, we are not sure if these protocols will even be necessary.

The type of algae strains that we use and develop will be key to the ultimate production of bio-diesel. We plan to test both cultured and indigenous strains of algae.

Why Arizona

In the Government-sponsored research in algae production at the Rosewell, New Mexico Test, the facilities reached their highest production when they had warm nights. Production levels increased between 200 to 300 percent from the normal production levels seen during the rest of the year.

This is no surprise, as researchers from Texas A& M reported to the Las Vegas Aquaculture Convention in 1998 about the record growth achieved at our Gila Bend location with shrimp. We believe that Gila Bend, the Southwest Arizona desert, and the adjacent area in California has the best climate for high intensity algae production than any other place in America and quite possibly the world. The elevation, low humidity and high temperatures allows tremendous growth for about 6 months of the year, with an additional 4 months productivity at what would be considered good for most places. We even get high solar radiation days in winter. We have observed this for years in our association with shrimp farming and our travels to other Aquaculture facilities. An anecdotal piece of evidence is that most shrimp farming facilities have trouble in growing enough algae while we have the opposite problem with too much algae growth and the need to limit and control algae growth in the shrimp ponds. We are certain that we will, like with the shrimp, set algae productivity records.

Research

Establishing the husbandry practices for algae may be our most important goal. These techniques will be refined and developed in large part by continuously growing algae in a farming operation.

Determine the right type of algae is a key challenge. The NEA report recommended that indigenous strains of algae be identified as possibly the most productive for an area. During our 13 years of experience with shrimp we have observed many types of algae. With that in mind we expect to possibly use several strains during a year.

We have the ability to experiment with multiple strains of algae at the same time. This includes a particular indigenous super strain of algae that seems to have almost unbelievable growth and good harvest characteristics. Other existing algae strains will also be grown and evaluated for the commercial production properties. We look forward to working with other organizations to evaluate their algae strains.

 

Relevant Questions

The best strains of algae with the properties of oil content, growth and harvest-ability have yet to be determined. The style, shape and workings of the ponds may possibly be affected by the strains selected. The seasonal changes in temperature make a big difference in production; our experience with covered ponds tells us that protecting the pond mass from the wind may allow high productivity for an additional four months.

A lot of these questions are similar to the ones we faced when we started learning how to raise shrimp in the desert. We only need to get the right combination for one of the systems to produce biofuel at a reasonable profit and the race to perfect this technology will be on.

Cost Benefits

America's big machines run on diesel. Algae biofuels have the ability to turn these machines into green machines. We have the very real possibility of not having these existing machines not contribute any additional CO2 to the atmosphere. Without having to retool for other types of alternative energies, the cost savings are tremendous.

Race for Change, Saving the Environment

We understand how important our success is for the environment and not just for global warming. A large part of the reason to raise shrimp in Arizona was to help save the mangrove swamps and coastline from the slash-and-burn farming techniques employed by shrimp farmers. But, the government policies of China and other nations to dump into the United States below their cost derailed our efforts and caused bankruptcy to other farms that followed our lead. We now face the threat of huge areas of jungle and tropical forest being cleared for palm oil production. Palm oil does actually produce a large amount of biofuel when compared to soybeans or corn. But the destruction of these Eco-systems decreases our planet's diversity while releasing huge amounts of greenhouse gases that will take generations before the carbon savings equals the carbon release. The environmental effect of our algae systems is very benign when compared to palm oil and other types of biofuel. Only if we are successful quickly enough to make palm oil and other destructive forms of biofuel non-economically competitive with our algae biofuels, will we be able to prevent this huge loss to our planet.