ABO Blog – Page 144

Algae the Next Generation

Congratulations to Sara Volz, 17, of Colorado Springs for her grand prize in the Intel Science Talent Search. Sara’s search for algae strains that produce higher quantities of oil in her home laboratory put her ahead of some very bright young minds in the annual research competition.

This isn’t the first time a young scientist’s algae research has attracted attention. Just last October the Algae Biomass Organization announced the first Young Algae Research Awards at the annual Algae Biomass Summit in Denver.

And it’s not just awards that are inspiring a new generation of algae researchers. We recall last year’s story of Josh Wolf, a 16 year old algae scientist taking his research straight into commercial ventures.

We wish them all the best of luck and can’t wait to hear what they do next!

Cheaper Carbon Capture and Algae

Take a look at some recent findings by chemistry researchers at the University of South Florida and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. They have developed a material that could make it substantially cheaper to capture carbon dioxide from the flue gasses of a power plant or other sources.

Capturing carbon dioxide from these sources is one of the most expensive aspects of technologies that could help fight climate change by preventing CO2 from entering the atmosphere in the first place. In some cases it has been estimated to add 20% or more to the cost of producing power if it were used in coal or natural gas fired facilities.

A leap in making carbon capture more efficient could also help the algae industry leap forward. Since algae are voracious consumers of CO2 the gas can quickly become one of the largest cost centers for algae producers. Instead of diverting the CO2 into underground formations the gas could be used by large-scale algae farms to produce renewable fuels, fertilizers, plastics, feeds…the list of algae-derived products goes on and on. And they all have substantial market value.

That might be good news for these researchers when you consider their next steps: determining how their new material can be manufactured and applied at a large scale. Perhaps the can find room to grow with one of the companies deploying algae technology to large-scales.

Algae Biomass Organization’s 2013 Industry Survey Shows Steady Support for Increased Production, Hiring and Price-Competitive Algae Biofuels

WASHINGTON, D.C. – March 6, 2012 – A new survey of the algae industry conducted by theAlgae Biomass Organization (ABO) shows the industry expects increasing production in 2013 and price-competitiveness with fossil fuels by 2020. The survey also noted the critical role of supportive Federal policy required in order to accelerate hiring and production. The survey was conducted in January 2013 and includes responses from companies involved in directly producing and buying algae or algae-derived products, as well as equipment manufacturers, research laboratories, providers of equipment or materials, government agencies and service providers.

The survey of more than 470 algae industry contacts shows a sector that continues to grow: 67 percent of algae producers said they plan to expand capacity in 2013 as they work to provide the U.S with new sources of sustainable, domestically produced fuels and other algae-derived products.

Survey respondents remain positive about the prospects for cost-competitive algae fuels, reporting expectations similar to those in ABO’s 2012 survey. More than 90 percent overall (and 95 percent of producers) believe it is at least somewhat likely that algae-based fuels will be able to compete with fossil fuels by 2020; nearly 70% overall (75% of producers) believe it is moderately likely to extremely likely. Nearly 40% of producers project that algae-derived fuels will be priced at $5.00 per gallon or less by 2020. About 23% believe prices will be less than $3.00 per gallon by 2020.

The strong potential for algae to provide a diverse range of products other than fuels came through in response to a question about which algal products are being produced. While 28% of producers indicated they are targeting fuels markets, there are many that also use algae to produce feeds (35%), nutritional products or nutraceuticals (28%) and fertilizers (18%).

Producers were strongly in favor of better federal policy support for the algae industry. Almost nine out of 10 of employers in the ABO Industry Survey said that better policy would likely lead their organizations to accelerate hiring. Half of them were “very” or “extremely” confident they could accelerate hiring with better federal policy support.

“After another year of impressive industry progress and scientific breakthroughs these results reflect continued optimism about the future of algae as a viable source of sustainable fuels and other products,” said Mary Rosenthal, executive director of ABO. “The positive outlook in the results of this survey was undoubtedly influenced by passage of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 that, for the first time, allows algae derived fuels to qualify for a $1.01 per gallon tax credit.”

Other key findings of the survey included:

The algae industry supports a wide variety of jobs across the United States. Respondents reported holding all types of positions in their organizations including executives, scientists and researchers, operations or production positions, finance, students and professors.
Congressional engagement is high—65 percent of respondents’ organizations either have met with or plan to meet with legislators, and more than half of ABO members reported having elected officials tour their facilities.

To build a robust industry, the most important areas for federal policies were identified as research and development grants, commercialization grants and tax credits/incentives.

An executive summary of the survey’s results is available at:
https://algaebiomass.org/resource-center/references/industry-statistics/

Products made from algae are the natural solution to the energy, food, economic, and climate challenges facing our world today. Algae have the power to simultaneously put fuels in our vehicles, recycle CO2, provide nutrition for animals and people and create jobs for millions of Americans. More information can be found at www.allaboutalgae.com.

About the Algae Biomass Organization

The Algae Biomass Organization (ABO) is a 501 c(6) non-profit whose mission is to promote the development of viable commercial markets for renewable and sustainable commodities derived from algae. Its membership is comprised of people, companies and organizations across the value chain. More information about ABO, including its leadership, membership, costs, benefits and members and their affiliations, is available at the website:www.algaebiomass.org.

Algae Industry Survey: Increased Production, Hiring and Price-Competitive Algae Biofuels

Today ABO released its annual Algae Industry Survey and the results build on yesterday’s news that consumers love algae biofuels. The key highlights will be encouraging to anybody following the commercialization of algae technologies that are being used to produce renewable fuels, feeds, fertilizers and other products:

91% of respondents say it is likely (from somewhat likely to extremely likely) that algae-based fuels will be cost-competitive by 2020.
Nearly 1 in 4 (23%) of producers say the price will be below $3.00 per gallon by 2020.
Congressional interest is significant—65% of respondents’ organizations either have met with or plan to meet with legislators.
Job growth was confidently predicted by employers for 2013. By 2020 some were projecting significant growth, but with more uncertainty (up to 30% of ABO members were not sure what their employment figures would be in 2020).
90% of employers say better federal policy support would likely accelerate hiring.
The most important federal policies in building a robust algae industry were identified as research and development grants, commercialization grants, and tax credits and/or incentives.
The most critical challenges for the industry to achieve cost-competitiveness were identified by producers as cost-efficient production systems and harvesting and extraction systems.

You can read more in the press release or get a deeper feel for the results in the executive summary.

A SlideShare deck of the highlights is also available:

2013 Algae Industry Survey from AlgaeBiomass

Consumers Show the Love for Algae Biofuel

Last November was the first time algae-derived biofuels were made available to consumers, and everybody wanted to know what drivers would think of the fuel, and if they would actually buy it. Today we have some answers.

Renewable fuel retailer Propel Fuels and Solazyme, Inc. today released sales and survey results for a 30-day trial program that offered algae-derived biodiesel blends at Propel pumps in California. It was the first time drivers had the chance to fill up with fuels made from algae and the numbers are pretty strong.

92 percent of participants noted that they would be more likely to purchase algae-derived fuel for its environmental benefits.
70 percent indicated that they would purchase the fuel more frequently if it were derived from algae.
Nearly 40 percent of customers indicated they would pay a premium for algae-derived fuel.

That’s how customers felt about algae-derived fuel, but perhaps even more impressive is what they actually did. The sales data show a 35 percent volume increase at Propel stations offering the algae-derived fuel over area sites not participating in the pilot.

That’s not bad for algae’s first trip to the market!

Today’s press release announcing the survey has more details, including some helpful information about the environmental benefits of Solazyme’s product.