Oilgae

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Holland (Michigan) may be in line for a $7 million state-funded pilot project to combine wastewater and carbon dioxide to grow algae for biofuel and animal feed.

Lawmakers are expected this month to complete work on grants for targeted industries worth hundreds of millions in coming years. That comes on top of film-production incentives that are drawing dozens of movie projects to Michigan at an estimated cost of $100 million.

In Holland, representatives of Bloomfield Hills-based Sequest LLC toured the city's wastewater and coal plant as a prospective site for its plan to divert carbon dioxide from the power plant, combine it with treated wastewater, and grow algae. The algae would then be converted to biofuels and other uses.

No one has done before. But if it works, Sequest CEO Bob Truxell believes it could help transform the world energy equation.

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Nature gave us oil from algae; perhaps we should try Nature's way again

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HR Biopetroleum has joined with Shell on a company, Cellana, that is one of about 20 worldwide looking to commercialize algae technology. Shonsey said Cellana has a leg up on the competition because it already has a patented process and research expertise from HR Biopetroleum that has been developed over nearly two decades. That work has solved contamination problems that can occur while identifying the best algae species for oil production, he said.

Cellana's pilot plant is producing oil now and that a demonstration plant is being built in Kona (Hawaii) to scale it up. Within three years it hopes to have its first commercial plant operating and within six years, another five plants.

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When it comes to jet fuel, there's some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the aviation industry is working hard to develop clean, renewable alternatives to petroleum. The bad news? None of them will be coming to a plane near you anytime soon. It's a reality that may push some cash strapped airlines to embrace more abundant – but dirtier – options.

At the Eco-Aviation Conference in Washington recently, airlines and researchers laid out their vision for an alternative fuel future. And while there are several different options being investigated, it would appear that algae is the one to beat.

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Nature gave us oil from algae; perhaps we should try Nature's way again

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Toronto, Jun 2008

“Biodiesel from algae has the potential to replace petro fuels”, boasts entrepreneur Nick Mashin. Currently, biofuels are largely derived from oil seed crops such as canola, soybean, rapeseed and palm oil. The competition between food and fuel uses has resulted in record breaking commodity prices for these agricultural stocks.

Biofuels have since become more expensive than conventional fossil fuel and many biofuel plants have become government subsidized or forced to close. Nick Mashin of Canrex Biofuels Ltd. predicts the future is biodiesel derived from algae. Algae farming has been around for 50 years, and with oil content as high as 70 percent, algae clearly has a future in biodiesel production. Biofuels such as ethanol take an equal part of fossil fuel to produce the same proportion of ethanol with the added release of carbon emissions.

In addition to the high oil yield of algae, its added benefit is that it is a major consumer of carbon dioxide. Mashin insists that algae operations could partner with industries that produce high levels of carbon dioxide to draw off their emissions and absorb them into algae cultivation.

Canrex Biofuels Ltd. is currently developing and refining its technology that will see algae production and the supply of biodiesel expand worldwide. With worldwide concern for the future of energy supplies and prices, biodiesel is a clean renewable fuel with few environmental impacts if developed without the use of food stocks.

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Nature gave us oil from algae; perhaps we should try Nature's way again

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Three airlines are joining the newly-formed Algal Biomass Organisation (ABO), a non-profit organisation which aims to promote the development of commercially viable transportation and power-generation fuels, as well as other non-energy applications, from algae biomass.

Air New Zealand, Continental Airlines and Virgin Atlantic, together with biofuel technology developer UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, are the first wave of aviation-related members to join the ABO. The organisation is co-chaired by aircraft maker Boeing Co.

The airlines are advocating the identification and acceleration of new generations of fuel sources for the industry that have lower life-cycle carbon emissions, such as sustainable algae-based biofuels.

Nature gave us oil from algae; perhaps we should try Nature's way again

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Joint project to use coal to grow algae for biofuels

Algae's clout as a fuel feedstock seems to rise every day. Inventure Chemical and Seambiotic announced this week a joint venture to create biofuels from algae fed by a coal-fired power plant.

An open pond for growing algae used at a pilot plant in Israel.
(Credit: Seambiotic)

Based in Seattle, Inventure Chemical has a process for converting algae to either biodiesel, ethanol, or specialty chemicals. Seambiotic, based in Tel Aviv, Israel, has developed an open-pond algae farming system that is now testing in Israel.

The joint venture will grow algae using flue gas emissions from a power plant and either use the resulting liquid fuel to power its operations or sell it.

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Nature gave us oil from algae; perhaps we should try Nature's way again

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GreenFuel Technologies, a closely watched algae start-up, has hired a new CEO to place interim CEO Bob Metcalfe.

Simon Upfill-Brown will join the company in mid-July from Haltermann Custom Processing, where he was CEO of the chemical manufacturing firm. He was general manager of Haltermann Dow after Dow Chemical bought the company in 2001 until it was spun out this year as a separate company.

In a statement, Upfill-Brown said "algae has come of age."

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Nature gave us oil from algae; perhaps we should try Nature's way again