OriginOil to Help Mexico Industrialize Its Algae Production

OriginOil, Inc., the developer of breakthrough technology to transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum, has agreed to participate in a pilot scale algae project to be funded by the Mexican government. The project will demonstrate industrial algae production, paving the way for substantial investment by the Mexican government in large-scale jet fuels production.

"We are excited to support Mexico's 'Manhattan Project' to produce 1% of the nation's jet fuel from algae in less than five years," said Riggs Eckelberry, OriginOil CEO.

"By the end of this decade, the project must produce nearly twenty times that amount, propelling Mexico to the front rank of bio-fuel producing nations. We pledge the full dedication of our resources to help make this happen."

The project operator, Genesis Ventures of Ensenada, Baja California, has received a first Economy Ministry grant through The National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT) for its first site. Genesis will develop the site as a model for numerous additional projects to be co-located with large CO2 sources.

Ensenada's Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education (CICESE) will operate the Genesis site. The facility offers a team of world-class researchers, sophisticated laboratory equipment, and bench-scale algae cultivation infrastructure. Genesis will also invite University of Baja California (UABC) algae researchers to collaborate in the project. Ensenada is a perfect environment for algae growth, with abundant sunlight and access to seawater.

"We intend to rely heavily on OriginOil's expertise in feeding and sanitizing algae cultures, and its core harvesting and extraction technology," said Eduardo Durazo Watanabe, President of Genesis Ventures. "Through our partner Jose Sanchez, we have a uniquely close association with OriginOil which will enable us to scale up production quickly."

In addition to his leadership role at Genesis, Mr. Sanchez is OriginOil's vice president of growth and production. He recently helped increase algae production at a research site operated by Australia's MBD Energy Limited, OriginOil's first commercial partner.

Before joining OriginOil, Sanchez was General Manager of Aurora Mexico, a then-subsidiary of San Francisco-based Aurora Algae, where he launched Aurora's Mexico-based field operations, built and opened its R&D facilities, managed initial scale-up endeavors, provided information to decision makers to aid in site selection, and carried out negotiations on land acquisition, water rights and CO2 procurement. Sanchez also introduced landmark Mexican legislation to address the environmental, water management and land use aspects of algae production systems. He has continued to work with Mexican stakeholders to develop that country's strategic algae infrastructure.

Solar Acquisition Corp. Signs MOU With Global Natural Energy to Form Bio-Fuel Subsidiary

Solar Acquisition Corp. and Global Natural Energy (GNE) Cyprus Ltd today announced that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to form a joint venture, GNE USA, to produce algae-based bio-diesel oil. Management expects the full commercial and technology agreements will be closed within sixty days.

"GNE-USA will come out of the gate with a strong competitive advantage in its exclusive right to the GNE patented technology," said Bruce Levy, SLRX director. "We expect GNE-USA to have high volumes and low costs driven by this technology."

GNE-USA will use GNE's patented algae growing systems to produce bio-diesel oil. "After 10 years of research, GNE has achieved the first commercially viable algae systems for bio-fuel," said GNE CEO Chaim Lieberman.

The GNE systems both reduce the cost of growing the algae and significantly reduce the costs of extracting the oil used for diesel fuel production. Currently U.S. diesel consumption is estimated at 18.9 billion barrels a day.

"Both the GNE system for growing algae and the process for extracting the bio-fuel are much more advanced than competing solutions," continues Chaim Lieberman. "We have developed and patented a significant improvement in the process of breaking down the molecules need for cost-effective and efficient fuel use."

The companies also said that the new subsidiary will have the advantage of their existing management teams' engineering talent and years of experience in the algae farm and alternative energy markets.

Source : Press Release

Green Plains Renewable Energy and BioProcess Algae Complete Construction of Phase II Grower Harvester(TM) Technology

Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq:GPRE) announced today that BioProcess Algae has completed construction of Phase II of its commercial scale Grower HarvesterTM bioreactors in Shenandoah, Iowa. The Grower Harvester bioreactors were successfully started up in January of this year. Housed in a 4,000 square foot facility, the Phase II bioreactors at the project site are 20 times larger than the successful Phase I bioreactors deployed in October 2009.

"We are pleased to begin the algae production and testing process on our Phase II project in Shenandoah," said Todd Becker, President and Chief Executive Officer of Green Plains Renewable Energy. "As we have successfully moved from the lab beaker to the commercial scale bioreactors deployed at the project site, our focus has remained on efficiently and effectively growing and harvesting algae with little to no manual intervention, all while utilizing the carbon dioxide from our ethanol production process," continued Becker. "The algae produced from our reactors have potential uses in nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, biofuels and animal feed."

"After achieving 100% uptime in Phase I of the project and exceeding productivity targets at varying harvest intervals, we are excited to have Phase II of this project deployed and fully functional," commented Tim Burns, Chief Executive of BioProcess Algae. "Our goal for Phase II is to satisfactorily demonstrate the commercial viability of our technology. We plan to utilize third-party verification for productivity, harvest densities and product value concerning lipid content and composition."

Since the Phase I launch in October 2009, BioProcess Algae has demonstrated the scalability of the Grower Harvester technology to make possible this second phase of the project. BioProcess Algae plans to have a public unveiling of the project in the near future. More information and photos of the Phase II project can be found at www.gpreinc.com/BioProcess-Algae.

Source : Press Release

OpenAlgae, LLC, Adds to Texas’ Budding Biofuel Market with ATI Membership

The Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), a not-for-profit unit of The University of Texas at Austin, announced today that OpenAlgae, LLC, joined as a member company of the ATI-Clean Energy Incubator.

OpenAlgae has developed revolutionary technologies to release and recover oils and other valuable products from algae. Its UT-based development team has built a working prototype for the solvent-less processing of algae that can scale for liquid fuel and nutraceutical applications.

OpenAlgae’s relationship with the ATI began at the ATI’s 2009 Clean Energy Venture Summit, building on the startup’s technical partnership with UT researchers that began in 2006. The meeting at CEVS established an informal consulting relationship that led to membership. The partnership establishes the Incubator's presence in the emerging algal oil industry and will accelerate and support OpenAlgae's path to market.

OpenAlgae CEO Hoyt Thomas said the counsel of ATI director Isaac Barchas and ATI-Clean Energy co-director Mitch Jacobson was a major draw for his decision to join. “The leadership at the ATI has much to offer OpenAlgae in terms of assistance in developing go-to-market and funding strategies,” said Thomas. “Membership in ATI will help make producing oil from algae a reality as we reach out to investors, build our company team and go to market.”

The membership will open OpenAlgae to the ATI’s deep pool of investor connections and help carry the company’s renewable, scalable fuel source to market. The company will leverage the ATI’s extensive talent network to build the team, strengthen its IP position and build and test its first field units. Initial field testing is scheduled for June of this year.

“OpenAlgae’s proprietary algal-oil recovery process represents not only a growing biofuel interest in Austin’s clean-energy ecosystem, but also a tremendous potential impact to fossil fuel consumption as we know it today,” said Jacobson. “Thomas is the right leader for this company, and its position with the CEI bodes well for the future of not only the city’s clean-energy economy, but the world’s.”

Solix Biofuels Announces Appoints Joel Butler As New CEO

Solix Biofuels, Inc. (Solix) today announced the appointment of Joel Butler as Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Butler brings extensive experience in manufacturing and product commercialization, with over twenty years of management experience in both early stage and Fortune 500 companies. Prior to joining Solix, Mr. Butler was at Accenture as a founding member of their supply chain strategy practice, working on transformation projects at such companies as Verizon, Nokia and Best Buy. Prior to Accenture, Mr. Butler was co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of SwiftRivers, an analytical software optimization firm. Mr. Butler also worked at Quantum Corporation, where his roles included Director of Technology Licensing and Director of Software Applications. He has a B.S. in Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering from Webb Institute of Naval Architecture, an M.S. in Transportation Science and an M.S. in Management Science both from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Mr. Butler was previously Solix's CTO.

"Joel's background provides the Company with the expertise needed to drive the commercialization of the Solix AGS™ technology," said Tim Lewin, Director of I2BF Venture Capital, an investor in Solix and a member of Solix's Board of Directors. "We believe Solix is now well positioned to launch these much needed systems into the marketplace."

"I look forward to driving the launch of our proprietary algae production systems," said Joel Butler. "I believe that Solix's AGS technology provides the best opportunity to enable the industry to deliver a range of products derived from algae in the coming years. These uniquely engineered systems will provide our customers with reliable, high productivity, algae cultivation capabilities."

Solix has demonstrated continuous growth of high oil-producing algae in its AGS for almost three years, with no production failures and significant year-over-year improvements in both biomass yield and oil output. Last summer, they achieved peak growth rates over 3000 gallons per acre per year, thereby crossing the threshold that has been deemed as commercially viable. Solix has also demonstrated its technology at scale at its demonstration plant located in Southwestern Colorado on the Southern Ute Reservation. This facility uses waste carbon dioxide and produced water from industrial sources.

Doug Henston, previously Solix's CEO, and David Maytubby, CFO, have resigned from the Solix to pursue other opportunities.