Collaborative Research and Development Agreements (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			60 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Sep. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2013	Mar. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Sep. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2012	Mar. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Sep. 30, 2012 Shell [Member]	Nov. 30, 2007 Shell [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Shell [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Shell [Member] gal	Dec. 31, 2013 Arch [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Merck [Member]	Jan. 31, 2017 Merck [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Arch [Member]
Collaborative Arrangements and Non-collaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Sales Revenue, Services, Net																	$ 1,804,000
Collaborative Research and Development Agreements (Textual) [Abstract]
Term of collaborative research and development agreement (in years)													5 years					5 years
Amount of new shell agreement requires Shell pay												7,500,000
Collection of agreement														7,500,000
Milestone payment under Shell Research Agreement															3,000,000
Liquid fuel (gallons)															30,000,000
Period of research agreement with shell (years)															10 years
Collaborative agreements exclusively right period (years)															3 years
Revenue sharing arrangement	2,331,000	839,000	417,000	1,044,000	0	0	0	250,000	4,631,000	150,000	450,000
Sales revenue	5,263,000	1,076,000	4,948,000	9,136,000	6,834,000	7,140,000	6,783,000	15,167,000	20,423,000	35,924,000	49,021,000
Deferred Revenue																	696,000
Sales Revenue, Goods, Net																2,134,000	1,004,000
Write-off and other									$ 0	$ 0	$ 0								$ 387,000