Consolidated Statements of Operations (USD $) In Thousands, except Share data, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011
Revenues:
Research and development programs	$ 19,788	$ 27,649	$ 26,793
Product revenues	19,962	16,459	7,173
License fees			5,000
Total revenues	39,750	44,108	38,966
Costs and operating expenses:
Cost of product revenue	6,385	5,311	2,420
Research and development	66,572	66,384	45,613
Sales, general and administrative	62,933	57,516	41,426
Total costs and operating expenses	135,890	129,211	89,459
Loss from operations	(96,140)	(85,103)	(50,493)
Other income (expense):
Interest and other income, net	1,369	2,072	871
Interest expense	(7,136)	(561)	(642)
Loss from equity method investments	(8,237)	(1,824)
Gain (loss) from change in fair value of warrant liability	147	2,284	(3,637)
Loss from change in fair value of derivative liability	(6,392)
Total other income (expense)	(20,249)	1,971	(3,408)
Net loss	(116,389)	(83,132)	(53,901)
Accretion of redeemable convertible preferred stock			(60)
Net loss attributable to Solazyme, Inc. common stockholders	$ (116,389)	$ (83,132)	$ (53,961)
Net loss per share attributable to Solazyme, Inc. common stockholders, basic and diluted	$ (1.81)	$ (1.37)	$ (1.35)
Weighted average number of common shares used in loss per share computation, basic and diluted	64,211,958	60,509,048	39,934,013