Key Role for Ancient Protein in Algae Photosynthesis

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Krishna Niyogi, a biologist with Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley, led the discovery that an ancient light harvesting protein, LHCSR, functions as a molecular “dimmer switch” that helps prevent green algae from absorbing too much sunlight during photosynthesis and suffering oxidation damage as a consequence.

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Algae Biofuel Production in Southern Chile

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United States corporation Bio Architecture Lab (BAL) has founded a subsidiary, BAL Chile, through which the company has already begun cultivating 100 hectares of seaweed on the island of Chiloé, with the aim of producing bio-fuel.

BAL developed micro-organisms that trigger a fermentation process in the algae, which in turn produces bio-fuel and by-products that can also be commercialised, such as iodine and feed for the salmon industry.

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NASA Launches with Algae Systems on Eve Of COP 15: Carbon-negative Fuel from Sewage and CO2

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Press release

As several industrialized nations rush to dampen the expectations of Copenhagen, NASA has launched a new mission. The payload: Algae Systems – a new company started by NASA engineers and seasoned biofuel industry veterans to launch a profitable global solution for reducing greenhouse gases. 

Algae Systems: Producing Carbon-Negative Diesel and Jet Fuel from Sewage and CO2 The founders of Algae Systems accepted NASA’s challenge to prove, commercialize and bring to market a unique and revolutionary technology – a byproduct of space missions – that produces a renewable carbon-negative fuel from algae that feeds on sunlight, sewage and CO2.

The NASA-developed technology, called OMEGA (Offshore Membrane Enclosures for Growing Algae) is a low-cost and low-tech method for growing algae. Unlike other approaches to growing algae, which require construction of massive energy-intensive facilities, OMEGAs are relatively inexpensive. OMEGAs are inflatable plastic membranes filled with processed wastewater, CO2 gas, and freshwater algae. OMEGAs float in water, and can be anchored off the coast of any ocean or salt lake. As the algae grow, using the energy of the sun, they convert wastewater and CO2 into biomass, and oxygen. OMEGA’s uniquely utilize forward-osmosis membranes to permeate purified water out of the OMEGA and into the surrounding water.

When coupled with Algae Systems’ solutions for the production of liquid transportation fuels, the combined “integrated biorefineries” can make high-value fuels while treating wastewater and drawing down CO2. “The OMEGA technology has the power to transform. In conjunction with our fuel conversion technologies, we can transform sewage and carbon dioxide into abundant and inexpensive fuels,” said Matthew Atwood, the President of Algae Systems. “Together the
technologies create an integrated biorefinery that is simple and scalable, generating sustainable-energy supplies and local reen-collar jobs.” Designing Fuels that Draw Down CO2 Algae Systems’ Dr. Zoa Hough-Maguire, a COP 15 delegate representing the State of Florida and her company’s planned commercial project in that state, characterizes the revolutionary benefits of the OMEGA technology, “Algae Systems’ fuels are radically different. They actually draw down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.” The company has utilized the U.S. Department of Energy GREET model for carbon lifecycle to validate the fuels will be carbon-negative. With this new technology in hand, Algae Systems specifically addresses the most critical issues on the agenda of the Copenhagen climate conference: the reduction of CO2 and other GHG emissions, sustainable-energy production, waste disposal, and protecting fragile marine ecosystems and water resources.

Readying for Commercial Launch
In making the announcement, NASA’s, Lisa Lockyer, Deputy Director of New Ventures and Communications for the Ames Research Center, has echoed Algae Systems’ determination and confidence by announcing the center’s support for the commercialization of the technology.
Accepting the challenge and signaling his company’s capacity to meet it, Atwood said, “Rapid deployment is anticipated. We are building a U.S.-based commercial pilot to prove the scalability of the technology up to 100 million gallons of wastewater throughput per
year. Once successful, we will begin offering the technology to industrial and municipal clients."

Technology That Gives Back
"The concept is simple," says John Perry Barlow, a Managing Partner of Algae Systems, "If you can take problems that the world has in abundance, like sewage and CO2, and transform them into resources, like diesel fuel that works in existing machinery, you can create economic fountains within local markets that become a positive incentive to draw down significant quantities of greenhouse gases." As a co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and an early architect of the Open Internet model that has been fundamental to its success, Barlow spent years traveling around Africa and other developing countries connecting them to the Internet. "For any set of technologies to be widely-enough deployed in time to mitigate climate change, they have to spread themselves, like the Internet," Barlow says, "they have to be simple and cheap, they have to address needs the developing world has now, and they have to be deployed by the very people who live there."

Mission Critical: On the Front Lines of Global Warming With a technology so readily adaptable to the immediate needs of the developing world, Algae Systems has become a rallying point for those who are most at risk from sea-level rise due to increasing CO2 emissions: AOSIS, the 42 member Alliance of Small Island States. In the words of U.N. Ambassador Demissa Williams of Grenada, leading member of AOSIS, “We have to worry today, not tomorrow.” With help of NASA and forward-thinking partners around the world, Algae Systems has moved past worry and is taking action.

Algae Systems, LLC (Algae Systems) is an American, full-service carbon-negative energy production, engineering, and technology company, soon offering turn-key solutions for C02 and sewage conversion to diesel-manufacturing plants worldwide for commercial and municipal clients. Algae Systems is a signatory with the UN Global Impact and its official and approved “Caring for Climate” list of international businesses committed to the development of environmentally-friendly technologies.

Additional information about Algae Systems and its technology can be found at www.algaesystems.com and http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2009/09-
147AR.html

The term "Carbon-Negative" describes a process for removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the earth's atmosphere. COP 15, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, will take place in Copenhagen, Denmark, between December 7 and December 18, 2009.

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Algae Biofuel Firm Solix Raises Funds

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In July, Colorado-based Solix Biofuel raised USD16.8m in a Series A funding round from investors including Shanghai Alliance Investment,I2BF Venture Capital and Valero Energy. Solix is building a pilot facility in partnership with Southern Ute Alternative Energy. The first phase will be completed next year and will include four acres of closed algae photobioreactors . The firm claims its technology can produce approximately five times more fuel per acre than soy-based biodiesel.

Source 

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SRS' New Algae Extraction Pilot Plant Placed in Operation

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SRS' Pilot Plant for algae oil extraction allows SRS to support clients who do not have their own extraction facilities by offering toll processing of large quantities of algae. SRS also has a benchtop system which allows for screening of small samples to identify the true oil (lipid) content of algae species. Both the Pilot Plant and the bench top system employ new techniques for fractionation of algae which were developed by SRS; providing for the highest recovery of lipids for biofuel production.

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PetroAlgae Collaborates with Indian Oil

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Florida-based PetroAlgae Inc. is collaborating with India’s largest company to develop algae strains and technology to suit Indian conditions. PetroAlgae’s subsidiary PA LLC recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Indian Oil Company Ltd. to build a pilot plant meant to demonstrate the commercial viability of the company’s technology. “A commercial production facility with a capacity of 200,000 tons per year of biodiesel is proposed in the near future,” IOCL said. The process will also produce a high-value protein for animal feed.

Source: Biomass magazine

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Soley Biotechnology's Business Briefs from Biodiesel Magazine

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The Soley Biotechnology Institute is offering samples of algae oil on its Web site, and offering microalgae oil for sale for $0.418 per liter. The company described the source as heterotrophic microalgae grown in a pyramid photobioreactor. The fatty acid profile offered on the Web site indicates the oil is 51 percent palmitic, 39 percent oleic, 7 percent linoleic and 2 percent stearic. The Turkey-based Soley Institute has been working on microalgae since 2000. Among its projects has been algae production for nutritional supplements in partnership with the Intergovernmental Institution for the use of Micro-algae Spirulina Against Malnutrition. The Soley institute initiated a grant program in 2009 for algae research in developing countries.

Source: Biodiesel magazine

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Solazyme Taps Michael S. Golembieski as Senior Vice President

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Solazyme, Inc., welcomes Michael S. Golembieski to the management team as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Nutritionals. Golembieski will be responsible for growing Solazyme’s global food and feed ingredient business for renewable oils, purified microalgae, and microalgae extracts.

Golembieski is a recognized growth and development expert in the biotechnology and renewable food industries, most recently leading strategy and business development for the SPLENDA ® Sucralose ingredient business of Tate & Lyle, PLC. He has spent more than 30 years in finance, business and strategy development; successfully initiating and managing acquisitions ranging from $10 to $100 million in total revenue. He brings additional knowledge and skill in intellectual property portfolio management, market development, and manufacturing platform optimization.

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The Chesapeake Algae Project - ChAP

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The College of William and Mary and its Virginia Institute of Marine Science have formed a collaborative research initiative to investigate a promising new technology to produce biofuel from the algae growing naturally in rivers and the Chesapeake Bay.

The enterprise, called ChAP—the Chesapeake Algae Project—is an integrated research approach to algae-based energy production and environmental remediation. It includes a number of corporate partners, notably StatoilHydro, a Norwegian energy company. StatoilHydro has seeded the enterprise with an initial $3 million investment.

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Replenish, A Micro-algae Based Fuel Program Wins Cleantech Business Competition

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The Cleantech Open is a business competition created to find, fund and foster startup clean technology companies. Winnders were announced this week at the annual Cleantech Open Expo and Awards Gala in San Francisco. Dubbed the "Academy Awards of Clean Technology," the event marks the grand finale of the Cleantech Open's yearlong business competition.

2009 Global Cleantech Open Ideas was won by winner Replenish Energy (www.replenishenergy.org) of Puerto Rico. Replenish is a micro-algae based fuel program of Bio-Lipids of Puerto Rico, a private innovation company. Micro-algae are said to be the World's most efficient renewable energy source currently available, capable of delivering 48,000 kilowatts of electricity per million dollars capital invested.

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Aquaflow Links with Chinese Company to grow Algae

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Marlborough bio-energy entrepreneur Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation, has teamed up with a Chinese company Greenleaf Environmental of Sichuan.

The companies are investigating sites in China for the Blenheim-based company's patented approach to growing wild algae in sewage ponds to clean up the waste, and refine the algae for biodiesel.

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ASU Scientists Receive Innovator of the Year award

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Press release:

Two Arizona State University scientists who started their work with algae more than 25 years ago were recognized with the Innovator of the Year-Academia award at the 2009 Governor’s Celebration of Innovation event held Nov. 19 at the Orpheum Theater in Phoenix.

Professors Qiang Hu and Milton Sommerfeld in the College of Technology and Innovation at ASU’s Polytechnic campus received Arizona’s highest honor for technology innovation for their work with the process of converting algae into fuel.

Last year, Time magazine named the process one of the top innovations in 2008.

In response to winning the award, Sommerfeld said “We are very honored to receive the Innovator of the Year award for our lab’s work on developing a renewable and sustainable fuel source from algae and are very proud of our team of students, research associates and staff who are committed to developing solutions to our nation’s energy problems.”

Sommerfeld and Hu have been working on algae as a source of renewable fuel for more than 25 years. The technology they developed uses sunlight, waste materials like carbon dioxide in flue gas, and nitrates and phosphates in waste waters as nutrients for growing a renewable algae feedstock that yields oil. The algae biomass residuals yield carbohydrates for ethanol production and proteins for animal feed or organic fertilizer.

The researchers recently received significant funding for their algae projects and already two spin-off companies have been created from technologies developed in their laboratory.

“Milt and Qiang are two faculty members who exemplify the spirit of technology innovation that is the core mission of our college,” said Keith Hjelmstad, university vice president and dean of the College of Technology and Innovation.  “This award is a fantastic spotlight to shine on their achievement. I am proud of them and even more pleased by what it means to others who will now be inspired to innovate.”

The Governor’s Celebration of Innovation has become a premier community gathering in Arizona. Three teams, two of which were from ASU, competed for the coveted award in the Academia category.

The award – given to a department or office within an accredited higher education institution that has achieved success through innovation in the past calendar year – is presented by the Arizona Technology Council and the Arizona Department of Commerce.

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An Algae Farmer from Prince George County

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In Prince George County, in a town called Spring Grove, Jes Sprouse is one of those looking to build an algae business.

Sprouse has developed a patent-pending process to convert algae into fuel. He is just one player in a nationwide race to create a viable biofuel from algae.

But while most other efforts are focused on processing algae to be used as an alternative to diesel or gasoline, Sprouse’s start-up Algal Farms Inc. is focused on creating algae pellets, which are burned like coal to generate electricity or are used as a substitute for wood pellets for heating.

Sprouse also said he is working on another project in Chesterfield County to convert an old wastewater treatment facility in a shuttered tobacco processing facility into an algae farm.

But Sprouse’s big dream is to build two large-scale algae farms, one 2,000-acre farm at a site in Prince George and a 20,000-acre at another in Prince George County – combined, the two farms would employ 860 people. He said that each acre of surface water would be capable of producing 500 pounds of biomass a day.

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Wastewater Grown Algae to Bio-crude Oil Demonstration Project

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The Minister of Energy Hon Gerry Brownlee will open the largest wastewater algae to bio-crude oil demonstration project in the world this week.

The project combines NIWA’s scientific expertise on advanced wastewater treatment and algal production pond technology with Solray’s bio-crude oil conversion technology and is hosted by Christchurch City Council at the Christchurch Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The aim of the project is for NIWA to produce between 150 and 300 tonnes of algae per year from the 5 hectares of wastewater treatment High Rate Algal Ponds. After harvesting and dewatering, this algae could potentially be converted into 45,000 - 90,000 litres (275 - 550 barrels) of bio-crude oil by Solray.

This bio-crude oil would normally be converted into a variety of products such as LPG, petrol, kerosene, diesel and bitumen, but if this amount were completely converted to petrol, it would power between 22 and 45 cars per year.

See more: Science alert

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The Linde Group and Algenol Biofuels Joins to develop Algae-based Carbon dioxide Capture Technology.

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The Linde Group and the US company Algenol Biofuels LLC have agreed to collaborate in a joint development project to identify the optimum management of carbon dioxide (CO2) and oxygen (O2) for Algenol’s algae and photobioreactor technology.

The research collaboration builds on a process developed by Algenol Biofuels and other partners. This method utilizes algae, CO2, salt water and sunlight to directly produce 3G bioethanol and other 3G biofuels or biochemicals in photobioreactors.

Linde has a large body of experience in the cost-efficient supply of CO2 for recycling applications. The OCAP project (organic CO2 for assimilation by plants) in the Netherlands is an example.

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Growing Algae in Acre-sized Platforms in Ocean

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Kansas State University engineer Wenquiao Yuan and his colleague think that growing algae on floating, acre-sized platforms in the ocean could dramatically reduce expenses associated with algae oil production by providing free sources of sunlight, nutrients, controlled temperature and water.

Unless the platform can grow algae several millimeters thick, it would be too difficult to scrape off the biomass for processing into oil.

The algae have responded well to dimpled stainless-steel. But the engineers are not sure why algae grow differently, depending on the type of material and surface texture.

Understanding those "mechanisms of attachment" is the goal of the first portion of the research, which is funded by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). From there, the engineers will likely test their platform system in a smaller pond environment and then take it offshore.

See more: msnbc

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The 7th Asia-Pacific Conference on Algal Biotechnology

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The 7th Asia-Pacific Conference on Algal Biotechnology will be held in New Delhi, India from December 1-4,2009.This conference is being organized once in every three years in different Asia–Pacific Region. Previous meetings were held at Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, China and Philippines. 

Major Topics Covered are

1. Algal Biofuels - Algal Biodesel,Bioethanol,Biological Hydrogen Production
2. Algae and Global Warming- Carbon Capture by Algae and Carbon Trading
3. Algae in Bioengineering- Photo bioreactors, Raceway Ponds
4. Algal Biomass Production, Processing, Technology and Marketing
5. Taxonomy, Ecology and Biodiversity
6. Physiology, Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
7. Bioremediation, Waste Water Treatment and Water Recycling
8. Food, Pharmaceuticals and Neutraceuticals
9. Algae, Aquaculture and Rural Development
10. Future of Algal Research and Utilization
    

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Algae Biofuel Workshop 2010

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Growdiesel Climate Care Council invites participants to the International Workshop on Algae Biofuels to be held on 12th & 13th April 2010 in India. The workshop is focused on next generation of Biofuels using Algae as the main feedstock. The summit offers an opportunity for investors, entrepreneurs, Biofuel companies, renewable fuel experts, their associates and academia to share their valuable experiences and knowledge.

http://www.growdieselevents.com/

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Algae Turned Into a Hydrogen Source

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A team of researchers from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory showed that photosynthesis may function as that clean, sustainable source of hydrogen.

The team, led by Barry Bruce, a professor of biochemistry and cellular and molecular biology at UT Knoxville, found that the inner machinery of photosynthesis can be isolated from certain algae and, when coupled with a platinum catalyst, is able to produce a steady supply of hydrogen when exposed to light.

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DOE to Accelerate Algae-based Biofuel Development

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To assess the current state of algae technology and determine the next steps toward commercialization of algal biofuel processes, the DOE is developing the National Algal Biofuels Technology Roadmap, which will be ready for publication in late December.

Reed said major areas in algae that should be focused on are basic algal biology, cultivation and production, integration and scale up, sustainability and economic analysis. “We’ve already gotten started in some areas of economic analyses, as we’re working with NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) and Sandia National Laboratory to look at the techno-economic modeling—where we are today in terms of what’s technically viable, how much it will cost, what the baseline is…we’re also looking at life-cycle assessments; working internationally with groups in Israel as well as Canada, to look at a number of important issues associated with establishing new algae programs.”

See more: Biomass Magazine

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Simply Green Biofuels, A New Algae Fuel Company in New Hampshire

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A New Hampshire company, Simply Green Biofuels, hopes to use sewage as the feedstock for oil-producing algae.

Simply Green currently re-purposes waste vegetable oil from restaurants into biodiesel. Processing oil-producing algae into fuel is just an extension of what they already do, which is why they have partnered with Clean Power Development to build an algae farm that they hope will be fed by sewage from the Berlin wastewater treatment facility.

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PetroSun Announces Update on Its Algae Projects

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Press Release:

PetroSun, Inc.announced a progress report on the firm's algae and alternative energy programs. 

D.O.E. Integrated Biorefinery Proposal

The D.O.E. Integrated Biorefinery oral presentation was completed on October 15th by the University of Arizona-led team that included Texas A&M, Los Alamos National Lab, Air Liquide, Lurgi and PetroSun. The D.O.E. moderator indicated that a decision on the awards for this program is anticipated during December 2009.

Gulf Coast Algaculture Lease Program

This program was placed on hold until acceptable terms are reached for the capital required to retrofit the existing aquaculture farm ponds for commercial algae production. The global economic crisis crippled the capital markets during the past twelve months that PetroSun had engaged for this program, but those markets and new sources of foreign investment are now in the negotiation stage to provide potential funding for this program.

Business Model Moving Forward

The future implementation and operation of the commercial algae integrated biorefinery facilities by PetroSun BioFuels in the Gulf Coast Algaculture Program and the pilot scale Arid Raceway Integrated Design designed in collaboration with the University of Arizona team. The focus of the algae operation is to produce algal oil for conversion to fuel, recognizing however that a major revenue contributor to the program will be the value of the co-products, including animal feed and fertilizer.

The Company will continue to contract with existing biodiesel refineries to enhance the biodiesel production output of its domestic biorefinery cooperative that will utilize palm oil feedstock as it transitions into algal oil feedstock.

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Cereplast to Transform Algae into Bioplastics

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Cereplast have been developing what it calls a breakthrough technology that will transform algae into bioplastics. The company aims to commercialise this development and launch a new family of algae-based resins that will complement its existing line of Compostables and Hybrid resins.

Cereplast has initiated contact with several companies that plan to use algae to minimize the CO2 and NOX gases from polluting smoke-stack environments. According to their researchers, algae from a typical photo-bioreactor is harvested daily and may be treated as biomass, which can be used as biofuel or as a raw material source for biopolymer feed stock.

The company is in direct communication with potential chemical conversion companies that could convert the algae biomass into viable monomers for further conversion into potential biopolymers. “Algae as biomass makes sense in that it helps close the loop on polluting gases and can be a significant renewable resource,” added Mr. Scheer.

The company hopes that this new line of algae-based resins could eventually replace 50% or more of the petroleum content used in traditional plastic resins.

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