Debt - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended			3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended			1 Months Ended		0 Months Ended		9 Months Ended					1 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	0 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	0 Months Ended	9 Months Ended			3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended		1 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2013	Dec. 31, 2013	Sep. 30, 2014 Solazyme Bunge JV l	Sep. 30, 2013 Solazyme Bunge JV	Sep. 30, 2014 Solazyme Bunge JV	Sep. 30, 2013 Solazyme Bunge JV	Mar. 31, 2014 Solazyme Bunge JV	Jun. 30, 2010 Purchased equipment Promissory note	May 31, 2011 Manufacturing facility T l	May 31, 2011 Manufacturing facility Promissory note	May 31, 2011 Manufacturing facility Promissory note	Sep. 30, 2014 Silicon Valley bank loan	Dec. 31, 2012 Silicon Valley bank loan	May 11, 2011 Silicon Valley bank loan	May 11, 2011 Silicon Valley bank loan Term loan	May 11, 2011 Silicon Valley bank loan Facility	Jan. 24, 2013 Senior Subordinated Notes	Sep. 30, 2014 Senior Subordinated Notes	Jun. 19, 2014 Senior Subordinated Notes 2018 Notes	Jan. 25, 2013 Senior Subordinated Notes 2018 Notes	Jan. 24, 2013 Senior Subordinated Notes 2018 Notes	Sep. 30, 2014 Senior Subordinated Notes 2018 Notes	Sep. 30, 2014 Senior Subordinated Notes 2018 Notes	Apr. 02, 2014 Senior Subordinated Notes 2019 Notes	Sep. 30, 2014 Senior Subordinated Notes 2019 Notes	Apr. 01, 2014 Senior Subordinated Notes 2019 Notes	Jan. 24, 2013 Senior Subordinated Notes Early Conversion Payment	Sep. 30, 2014 Senior Subordinated Notes Early Conversion Payment 2018 Notes	Sep. 30, 2014 Senior Subordinated Notes Early Conversion Payment 2018 Notes	Jan. 24, 2013 Senior Subordinated Notes Early Conversion Payment 2018 Notes	Mar. 31, 2014 HSBC Facility	Mar. 26, 2013 HSBC Facility	Sep. 30, 2014 HSBC Facility	May 31, 2013 HSBC Facility	Sep. 30, 2014 HSBC Facility U.S. Dollar	Sep. 30, 2014 HSBC Facility Foreign Currency
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Interest costs incurred related to the Company's total debt	$ 2,800,000	$ 1,300,000	$ 7,200,000	$ 4,800,000
Interest costs capitalized		300,000		300,000		0	200,000	600,000	800,000
Amount borrowed											265,000			5,500,000
Final payment due											Jan. 01, 2015
Effective percentage rate											9.00%													6.00%					5.00%
Credit facility maximum borrowing																	20,000,000	15,000,000	5,000,000																30,000,000		35,000,000
Outstanding balance under the credit facility										10,000,000						11,200,000																			10,400,000
Line of credit facility maturity date															Mar. 26, 2013																			May 31, 2016
Fermenters production facility						625,000						128,000
Annual oil production capacity over, in units												2,000,000,000
Annual oil production capacity												1,820
Purchase price of production facility												11,500,000
First payment due date of principal													2012-03-01
Second payment due date of principal													2013-02-01
Imputed interest rate														3.25%
Debt issuance costs																					1,000,000														200,000
Remaining Outstanding under HSBC facility																																				20,500,000
Cash and unrestricted cash equivalents																																			35,000,000.0
Additional percent of aggregate letter of credit under revolving facility																																			110.00%
Interest rate for total debt outstanding																																			2.70%
Commitment fee																																			2.50%
Outstanding balance under the credit facility																																			2.00%			105.00%	110.00%
Aggregate principal amount of debt																								125,000,000					149,500,000
Interest payment, beginning date																							Aug. 01, 2013				Oct. 01, 2014
Net proceeds from Note offering			143,894,000	119,750,000																	262,600,000
Underwriting Discounts And Commissions																					10,900,000
Amount of discount	11,693,000		11,693,000		4,610,000
Maturity date of debt																								Feb. 01, 2018			Oct. 01, 2019
Conversion rate of convertible note into shares of common stock																								121.1240		121.1240	75.7576	75.7576
Principal amount of convertible notes, denominator																				1,000				1,000					1,000	1,000			1,000
Debt conversion, original principal amount																						17,500,000
Debt conversion, shares issued in conversion																						2,409,964
Debt conversion expense			1,766,000	0																					1,800,000
Conversion price (in dollars per share)																								$ 8.26					$ 13.20
Conversion of stock conversion price (in dollars per share)																													$ 83.33	$ 83.33			$ 83.33
Convertible debt																										63,400,000
Number of common shares issued upon early conversion of notes																															0	2,743,475
Senior Notes, Noncurrent																									$ 61,600,000	$ 61,600,000		$ 149,500,000
Upon a fundamental change, Company to pay a percentage of the principal amount																				100.00%