Cynthia Warner used to be head of global refining for BP, which made her one of Big Oil’s highest-ranking woman executives.

Now she is president of Sapphire Energy, an energy company that produces oil made from algae.

Warner studied chemical engineering at Vanderbilt University and was involved in the oil business for 28 years.

However, Warner was uneasy with the environmental risks associated with drilling deeper for oil; the oil spill in the Gulf Coast is proof of the potential damages.

So Warner decided to get into alternative energy, and now her business is industrial-scale production of liquid hydrocarbons.

Hydrocarbons are an energy-dense, portable fuel that can be used for transportation vehicles and building materials.

Warner believes it is necessary to find a solution that can fit into the existing energy infrastructure.

For her, the answer is algae.

Algae are among the fastest growing plants in the world, and about 50 percent of their weight is oil.

Unlike biofuels brewed from corn or plant waste, algae do not compromise food production or require a lot of land and they are very low carbon.

Not only that, but by using techniques from pharmaceuticals research to breed algae, the algae grow faster, produce maximum amounts of oil, and are disaster resistant as well as easier to harvest.

Sapphire Energy plans to build a 300-acre demonstration plant in New Mexico that will be producing 100 barrels of oil a day by 2011.

By 2018, a commercial plant should be producing 10,000 barrels per day.

Producing oil from algae has many challenges, including getting the price or algae-bred oil comparable to conventional gasoline, however, Warner is willing to give it her all.

Filed under: Chemical, Environmental, Trailblazers

Tags: Chemical, Energy, Environmental, Green Technology, Green Transportation