• Wall Street Journal , Wednesday, September 8, 2010 10:49 AM

Unilever, which uses palm oil in products as diverse as Dove soap, Vaseline lotion and Magnum ice cream, will announce today that it is making a multimillion-dollar investment in Solazyme, a company that harvests algal oil. It's a green alternative that can power airplanes as well, Paul Sonne reports.

Environmentalists say that harvesting palm oil has contributed to deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia and damaged orangutan habitats. Some observers wonder whether algal oil can be competitively produced in sufficient quantity but Unilever is confident that Solazyme, which is based in south San Francisco, can become a viable supplier, Sonne reports.

The company has been providing jet fuel to the Navy but it's also interested in consumer goods. "We've made all kinds of food products," says co-founder and CEO Jonathan Wolfson. "We've used the oil for frying. We've made mayonnaises, ice creams. And they work, taste good and are functional."

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