PetroSun licensing biofuel-from-algae process to... itself?

Phoenix-based PetroSun (PINKSHEETS: PSUD) issued a statement today saying it has licensed its algae-to-biofuel technology to a new subsidiary created in Australia.

What wasn't apparent, however, was whether the company was simply licensing the technology to itself in a bid to raise its profile, pufferfish-style, or what the technology even is.

Tiny PetroSun, whose published phone number has gone straight to voicemail for months, announced last June it was establishing an algae research division called Algae Biofuels.

Today, the company issued a statement saying its Algae BioFuels subsidiary had "issued the exclusive algae to biofuel production technology license to PetroSun BioFuels for the Australasian market. PetroSun BioFuels is a wholly owned subsidiary of PetroSun and was formed to cultivate algae and refine the algal oil into biodiesel for distribution under the PetroSun brand throughout Australasia."

The new company, to be based in Australia, has commenced the search for an appropriate location to establish a refinery to produce up to 20 million gallons of biodiesel per year, according to the statement.

While thought by many to be a promising biodiesel feedstock, scientific leaders of the biofuel-from-algae industry characterize the production of biodiesel from algae as still many years from commercial viability (see the Cleantech Group's Biofuel from algae on horizon, say experts).

Anther biofuel from algae startup that boasted to large production claims, South Africa's De Beers Fuels, has found itself accused of fraudulent misrepresentation and squandering investors' funds (see Swimming with the fishes.)

None of the Cleantech Group's calls to PetroSun, requesting clarification of this or any of the company's other biodiesel-from-algae claims, have ever been returned.

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