Bullish on algae biofuels: Q&A with Aurora chairman Jim Long

The biofuels market is in a funk. Corn-based ethanol has become an environmental pariah to activists and an economic lodestone to people in favor of energy independence. Plant-based biofuel companies seeking to harvest oils from green matter have struggled to reach economies of scale and have faced political headwinds in Europe. And biofuels based on rendering animal and food waste have run into rough waters.

Alone among the biofuels remains algae, a prolific reproducer that is the current great hope among venture capitalists and other investors.