Alltech President Pearse Lyons said Monday that his company will announce in August the creation of a large algae factory in Kentucky to make bio-fuel and research new approaches for mitigating climate change.
Lyons declined to give the location or other details of the facility because the deal is still being negotiated. He said it would be the nation's second-largest algae factory, after one in South Carolina.
Lyons told about 1,500 people from 50 countries who came to Lexington Center for Alltech's 26th annual International Animal Health and Nutrition Symposium that algae shows great promise for helping humans cope with two big problems: energy and climate change.
That's because one acre of algae can produce 5,000 gallons of bio-fuel per year, and one ton of algae can absorb two tons of carbon dioxide, converting it to oxygen and carbohydrates, Lyons said.
Full Article
May 18, 2010
May 9, 2010
Algenol Partners With Valero Services, Inc.
BONITA SPRINGS, Fla., May 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Algenol Biofuels Inc. today announced a joint development agreement with Valero Services, Inc., a subsidiary of Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) to explore combining Algenol's Direct to Ethanol® technology with Valero's expertise in technology and infrastructure for production and distribution of transportation fuels and chemicals. If successful, this collaboration has the potential of resulting in joint venture, commercial scale algae-based facilities and off-take arrangements with a global reach.
"We are excited and encouraged to be working with Valero on this initiative, bringing together Valero's industrial expertise and Algenol's revolutionary technology," said Paul Woods, CEO and founder of Algenol. "This collaborative effort is a significant step on the road to the commercialization of algae-based biofuels and biochemicals."
Algenol Biofuels Inc. is a privately owned company founded in 2006. It recently made a series of announcements including the award of a $25 million grant from the Department of Energy as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, to build a facility in concert with its partner on the project, The Dow Chemical Company ( DOW). Algenol also announced a partnership with The Linde Group to develop CO2 capture and management technologies to increase biofuel production from algae. Lee County, Florida is also supporting Algenol with a $10 million incentive grant to open a new 40,000 square foot facility in Lee County, bringing economic diversity and high-tech jobs to the area.
Algenol today possesses the most advanced third generation biofuel technology in the United States. Algenol makes low cost ethanol directly from CO2 and seawater using hybrid algae in sealed, clear plastic photobioreactors through its unique, patented Direct to Ethanol® technology — all powered by the sun. Algenol's research and development efforts have culminated in a process that can produce ethanol at a rate of approximately 6,000 gallons per acre-year, compared to corn at 400. This process achieves an energy balance of more than 5 to 1 and a life cycle carbon footprint that is merely 20 percent of petroleum (an 80 percent reduction from petroleum). For more information about Algenol, please visit www.algenolbiofuels.com.
SOURCE Algenol Biofuels, Inc.
"We are excited and encouraged to be working with Valero on this initiative, bringing together Valero's industrial expertise and Algenol's revolutionary technology," said Paul Woods, CEO and founder of Algenol. "This collaborative effort is a significant step on the road to the commercialization of algae-based biofuels and biochemicals."
Algenol Biofuels Inc. is a privately owned company founded in 2006. It recently made a series of announcements including the award of a $25 million grant from the Department of Energy as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, to build a facility in concert with its partner on the project, The Dow Chemical Company ( DOW). Algenol also announced a partnership with The Linde Group to develop CO2 capture and management technologies to increase biofuel production from algae. Lee County, Florida is also supporting Algenol with a $10 million incentive grant to open a new 40,000 square foot facility in Lee County, bringing economic diversity and high-tech jobs to the area.
Algenol today possesses the most advanced third generation biofuel technology in the United States. Algenol makes low cost ethanol directly from CO2 and seawater using hybrid algae in sealed, clear plastic photobioreactors through its unique, patented Direct to Ethanol® technology — all powered by the sun. Algenol's research and development efforts have culminated in a process that can produce ethanol at a rate of approximately 6,000 gallons per acre-year, compared to corn at 400. This process achieves an energy balance of more than 5 to 1 and a life cycle carbon footprint that is merely 20 percent of petroleum (an 80 percent reduction from petroleum). For more information about Algenol, please visit www.algenolbiofuels.com.
SOURCE Algenol Biofuels, Inc.
April 30, 2010
ALGAE EUROPE, THE FIRST FAIR-CONFERENCE ON PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES AND INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS OF ALGAE
The event will be an important opportunity for operators of a sector with numerous applications and considerable development potential.
Algae Europe is the first fair-conference in Italy dedicated to the technologies and industrial applications of algae culture, which will take place from 26 to 28 October 2010 at fieramilanocity.
The event aims at representing a strongly changing sector with considerable growth potential. Algae, the microscopic plant organisms that are the basis of the food chain, are, in fact, widely used today in diverse applicative sectors: food and nutraceutics; the textile, paper and leather industries; chemicals and biochemicals; medicine and pharmacology; cosmetics, dermo-cosmetics and herbal products; agriculture and animal nutrition; treatment of wastewater; capture of CO2 production of biofuels and biogas. The transformation and exploitation of algae today are made possible thanks to ever more advanced technologies, such as the production of high-efficiency photo-bioreactors, and considerable investments in research and development.
Algae Europe is aimed at manufacturers of technologies, plants and machinery for the production of algae, as well as companies involved in their production, commercialization and use, research centres and investors.
"Other than an exhibition area, the conference sessions of Algae Europe 2010 will analyze the main topics of the sector with authoritative specialists who will take stock of the state-of-the-art of the sector at both Italian and international level," explains Marco Pinetti, president of Artenergy Publishing, the company organizing the event.
Algae Europe 2010 will be held as part of a new fair concept, in complete symbiosis with two strongly synergic halls, which will take place from 26 to 28 October:
Biotech 2010, the event and conference on biotechnologies, which will see the participation of the most important industrial biotech companies, services, institutions, associations, universities, laboratories, research centres and investors;
Nuce International 2010, the first fair-conference in Italy dedicated to nutraceutics, functional foods and cosmeceutics.
Algae Europe 2010
Algae Europe is the first fair-conference in Italy dedicated to the technologies and industrial applications of algae culture, which will take place from 26 to 28 October 2010 at fieramilanocity.
The event aims at representing a strongly changing sector with considerable growth potential. Algae, the microscopic plant organisms that are the basis of the food chain, are, in fact, widely used today in diverse applicative sectors: food and nutraceutics; the textile, paper and leather industries; chemicals and biochemicals; medicine and pharmacology; cosmetics, dermo-cosmetics and herbal products; agriculture and animal nutrition; treatment of wastewater; capture of CO2 production of biofuels and biogas. The transformation and exploitation of algae today are made possible thanks to ever more advanced technologies, such as the production of high-efficiency photo-bioreactors, and considerable investments in research and development.
Algae Europe is aimed at manufacturers of technologies, plants and machinery for the production of algae, as well as companies involved in their production, commercialization and use, research centres and investors.
"Other than an exhibition area, the conference sessions of Algae Europe 2010 will analyze the main topics of the sector with authoritative specialists who will take stock of the state-of-the-art of the sector at both Italian and international level," explains Marco Pinetti, president of Artenergy Publishing, the company organizing the event.
Algae Europe 2010 will be held as part of a new fair concept, in complete symbiosis with two strongly synergic halls, which will take place from 26 to 28 October:
Biotech 2010, the event and conference on biotechnologies, which will see the participation of the most important industrial biotech companies, services, institutions, associations, universities, laboratories, research centres and investors;
Nuce International 2010, the first fair-conference in Italy dedicated to nutraceutics, functional foods and cosmeceutics.
Algae Europe 2010
April 20, 2010
UM Pressure-Cooking Algae Into Better Biofuel
The pressure-cooker method the UM researchers are studying bucks the trend in algae-to-fuel processing. The conventional technique involves cultivating special, oily types of algae, drying the algae and then extracting its oil.
The hydrothermal process this project employs allows researchers to start with less-oily types of algae. The process also eliminates the need to dry it, overcoming two major barriers to large-scale conversion of microalgae to liquid fuels.
"We make an algae soup," Savage said. "We heat it to about 300 degrees and keep the water at high enough pressure to keep it liquid as opposed to steam. We cook it for 30 minutes to an hour and we get a crude bio-oil."
The high temperature and pressure allows the algae to react with the water and break down. Not only does the native oil get released, but proteins and carbohydrates also decompose and add to the fuel yield.
"We're trying to do what nature does when it creates oil, but we don't want to wait millions of years," Savage said. "The hard part is taking the tar that comes out of the pressure cooker and turning it into something you could put in your car, changing the properties so it can flow more easily, and doing it in a way that's affordable."
Source : GLITR
The hydrothermal process this project employs allows researchers to start with less-oily types of algae. The process also eliminates the need to dry it, overcoming two major barriers to large-scale conversion of microalgae to liquid fuels.
"We make an algae soup," Savage said. "We heat it to about 300 degrees and keep the water at high enough pressure to keep it liquid as opposed to steam. We cook it for 30 minutes to an hour and we get a crude bio-oil."
The high temperature and pressure allows the algae to react with the water and break down. Not only does the native oil get released, but proteins and carbohydrates also decompose and add to the fuel yield.
"We're trying to do what nature does when it creates oil, but we don't want to wait millions of years," Savage said. "The hard part is taking the tar that comes out of the pressure cooker and turning it into something you could put in your car, changing the properties so it can flow more easily, and doing it in a way that's affordable."
Source : GLITR
May 10, 2009
GPRE and Bioprocessalgae LLC Complete $2.1 Million Grant Funding for Algae Pilot Project
May 4, 2009 (MARKET WIRE) Omaha, NE - Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: GPRE) and BioProcessAlgae LLC have executed a grant award agreement with the Iowa Office of Energy Independence for a $2.1 million research and development grant from the Iowa Power Fund to build an algae pilot project at Green Plains’ ethanol plant in Shenandoah, Iowa.
“Algae has the potential to become an important carbon sequestration solution, biofuel feedstock and feed product,” said Todd Becker, President and Chief Executive Officer of Green Plains. “If the pilot project is successful, BioProcessAlgae will move to expand the photobioreactor system to full commercial scale. We believe that this pilot project will be one of the first operational installations of a photobioreactor system at an industrial plant in the United Sates utilizing emerging technology out of the laboratory.”
The Iowa Power Fund grant provides matching funds to install a series of photobioreactor units at Green Plains’ Shenandoah ethanol plant. Water, heat and carbon dioxide will be recycled from the ethanol manufacturing process to support continuous algae production. The grant provides funding through the end of the first quarter of calendar year 2010 with installation of the pilot project expected in the third quarter of 2009.
“BioProcessAlgae and its technology partners have made significant progress in the engineering, design and development of photobioreactor systems for algae production,” said Kevin Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of BioProcessAlgae. “The project will give us the opportunity to test our systems on a larger scale. This is a very important step toward system commercialization of algae technology.”
“The Shenandoah algae project is an opportunity to help the environment, the ethanol industry and the Iowa economy,” Becker stated. “Green Plains is committed to the advancement of next generation technologies and we appreciate the vision and assistance of Iowa Governor Chet Culver and the Iowa Office of Energy Independence in the development of this project.”
BioProcessAlgae LLC is a joint venture between Green Plains, NTR plc (a significant shareholder of Green Plains), CLARCOR Inc. and BioProcessH20.
GPRE Press Release
“Algae has the potential to become an important carbon sequestration solution, biofuel feedstock and feed product,” said Todd Becker, President and Chief Executive Officer of Green Plains. “If the pilot project is successful, BioProcessAlgae will move to expand the photobioreactor system to full commercial scale. We believe that this pilot project will be one of the first operational installations of a photobioreactor system at an industrial plant in the United Sates utilizing emerging technology out of the laboratory.”
The Iowa Power Fund grant provides matching funds to install a series of photobioreactor units at Green Plains’ Shenandoah ethanol plant. Water, heat and carbon dioxide will be recycled from the ethanol manufacturing process to support continuous algae production. The grant provides funding through the end of the first quarter of calendar year 2010 with installation of the pilot project expected in the third quarter of 2009.
“BioProcessAlgae and its technology partners have made significant progress in the engineering, design and development of photobioreactor systems for algae production,” said Kevin Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of BioProcessAlgae. “The project will give us the opportunity to test our systems on a larger scale. This is a very important step toward system commercialization of algae technology.”
“The Shenandoah algae project is an opportunity to help the environment, the ethanol industry and the Iowa economy,” Becker stated. “Green Plains is committed to the advancement of next generation technologies and we appreciate the vision and assistance of Iowa Governor Chet Culver and the Iowa Office of Energy Independence in the development of this project.”
BioProcessAlgae LLC is a joint venture between Green Plains, NTR plc (a significant shareholder of Green Plains), CLARCOR Inc. and BioProcessH20.
GPRE Press Release