BP said on August 11 that it has signed a deal with Martek Biosciences to further develop biofuel production using sugar.
"BP and Martek Biosciences Corp. today announced the signing of a joint development agreement to work on the production of microbial oils for biofuels applications," the pair said. Under the multi-year agreement, the two groups will seek to "advance the development of... technology for the conversion of sugars into biodiesel."
Sugar is already used to make ethanol, a cheaper alternative to gasoline used to power road vehicles.
"As an alternative to conventional vegetable oils, we believe sugar-to-diesel technology has the potential to deliver economic, sustainable and scaleable biodiesel supplies, " said Philip New, CEO of BP Biofuels.
The price of sugar reached a 28-year high in New York trading last week after jumping 25% in three weeks in London trading.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2009
