Chattanooga/Cleveland TN area Bio-Fuel Guru, Doug Mizell:
 
Since 1999, Doug Mizell and his wife, Sue, have fought the overgrowing nuisance of the Kudzu vine, a non-native plant that was introduced in the South in 1876. It can grow an amazing 60 feet a year and smothers other plants. According to kudzufree.org, an information website, the Kudzu vine has claimed an estimated 7 million acres in the Southeastern U.S.  Fed up with the plant, Mizell brainstormed and used his skills at “tinkering” to turn the vine into ethanol, which he calls Kudzunol. Doug is currently building mini-refineries throughout the Southeast, has presold all the Kudzunol he can make, with current costs of $80 in each 42-gallon barrel of his kudzu ethanol. And he's now building a $2 million dollar refinery in Charleston TN, just north of Cleveland - with streams of kudzu, algae, and several other feedstock lines. More info plus contact at:  www.Kudzunol.com   Info@kudzunol.com
 
In a conversation in June 2008, Doug says while making Kudzunol, he utilizes algae streams to "eat" the excess CO2 waste and creates an secondary energy fuel: algae bio-fuel. Doug says people throughout the world, for a mere $25,000 to $30,000 investment, can have their own algae refinery making up to 100,000 gallons of bio-fuel per year. To make the algae into bio-fuel, you'd need sunlight, water supply, CO2, and fallow ground/scrub land. Recently Doug told me they've had a revolutionary breakthrough with their finding a way to extract oil/sugar from ANYTHING - grass, sawdust, ANYTHING!!  He says this should revolutionize the bio-fuel industry. (Smart guy to invest with I'd say)..
 

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Here's another site.
http://www.originoil.com

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A big oil company in Australia has gotten involved:
www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/story?id=48057

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Richard Branson and Virgin Airlines, Delta , Continental , et al... are all investing BIG $$$ in Algae,
once they phase out petrol they will control their own destiny...

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LINKS to start exploring:
www.originoil.com; 
www.algae-energy.org; 
www.oilgae.com/algae; 
www.algae-energy.org
and check out this Video about algae fuel!

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The following link leads to a page on a UOP (a division of Honeywell) website that discusses the use of 'second generation' biobased feedstocks, such as algae, for producing jet fuel.  www.uop.com/renewables/10020.html

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I have just been doing some research on this and it is further along than I thought. A large oil drilling company has made a subsidiary that is building an algae farm and processing plant in Australia. Also there is a big international conference on algae bio fuels in India this September and it had a huge list of speakers from all over the world mostly professors and some CEO's and such. And they are building plants. One in Hawaii and one is Missouri are confirmed.

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Most researchers are currently in the development phases for prototyping of a Closed Loop Bioreactor used to grow algae under controlled environment and second to efficiently extract oil, starch and protein from the cells. As for production, in theory we can get up to 100,000 gallons per acre, though that will take around 10 years, but however 10,000 gallons an acre is currently being achieved through open pond systems.

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This is very interesting and related to this topic give it a read. Its about a new process for making biodiesel and a plant to produce 3 million gallons a year will be open in October.  http://wcco.com/national/algae.energy.independence.2.731292.html

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For inquiring minds, Popular Science recently published an article on algae based bio-fuels. Many of you readers may already be aware of this article. For those who are not, the article is easily obtained from any search engine using "Popular Science" and "Algae Fuel" as the key search words.

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Yes Valcent is a Canadian Company, they are construction a pilot Algae production plant in El Paso, Texas. They are one of the front running companies in this space. They are currently in the phase of getting the pilot project started. They are also into vertical gardens or food production.  There website: http://www.valcent.net/s/Home.asp. Also Originoil based in CA is also a great company.

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Another website: www.discoversolarenergy.com/biomass/algae.htm

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Bruce has website: www.algae-energy.org writes:

Algae, like other plants, turn solar energy into hydrocarbons. They take carbon dioxide out of the air, reducing global warming. This concept, as well as many others, will be tested, and some will provide useful energy. Our economic system will sort out the best choices. One of the problems with our current system is that there is no economic feedback related to pollution and global warming. Approaches that reduce global warming need to get an economic benefit.