Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		81 Months Ended			12 Months Ended								12 Months Ended							1 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2007	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2012	Mar. 28, 2012	Dec. 23, 2010	Dec. 31, 2012 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation	Dec. 31, 2012 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Per Customer	Dec. 31, 2012 Securities Investor Protection Corporation Cash	Dec. 31, 2012 Securities Investor Protection Corporation Per Customer	Mar. 28, 2012 Convertible Promissory Note	Aug. 31, 2007 Convertible Promissory Note	Jul. 13, 2007 Accredited Investors	Jul. 13, 2007 Chief Financial Officer	Dec. 31, 2012 Stock Option	Dec. 31, 2011 Stock Option	Dec. 31, 2012 Warrants	Dec. 31, 2011 Warrants	Dec. 31, 2012 Fulton Project	Dec. 31, 2012 Lancaster Biorefinery Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 Lancaster Biorefinery Maximum	Mar. 31, 2011 Lpc [Member]	Mar. 28, 2012 Tca [Member]
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Proceeds from sale of stock through private placement	$ 14,500,000	$ 0	$ 0	$ 544,500
Working capital deficit		2,213,000		2,213,000
Estimated operating expenses for the next 12 months		1,700,000
Ownership interest in BlueFire Fulton Renewable Energy LLC sold						1.00%
Research and development expenses		475,792	595,302	14,938,459
Income tax for ultimate settlement		50.00%
Antidilutive securities excluded from computation of earnings per share															0	1,229,659	928,571	7,115,275	300,000,000	100,000,000	125,000,000
Convertible debt											300,000	2,000,000	500,000	25,000
Proceeds from issuance of common stock	15,500,000	35,000	350,000	14,745,000
Cash, FDIC insured amount							250,000	100,000	100,000	500,000
Cash insured repayment period							Jan. 01, 2014
Percentage of billed and unbilled grant revenues		100.00%	100.00%
Percentage of accounts payable		64.00%	63.00%
Allowance for Doubtful Accounts Receivable		20,000	0	20,000
Purchase Agreement Amount																						10,000,000
Equity Facility Amount																							2,000,000
Penalty for filing to get the registration statement effective					$ 20,000