ABO Blog

Congrats to Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of ABO-member company LanzaTech, for being named the World’s Top Compassionate Businesswoman!

Salt magazine recently compiled the world’s first-ever list of big-hearted female leaders in business. ABO is especially pleased to see Jennifer Holmgren recognized in this list because not only have clean tech companies been successfully innovating entire industries, this award also shows that great leaders can innovate management itself.

Jennifer’s award proves that you can build a global business, attract and retain top talent and disrupt an industry—all without sacrificing personal values. We congratulate Jennifer and look forward to hearing her presentation at the Algae Biomass Summit.

To check out the full list of Top Compassionate Businesswomen, read the article here.

Long time ABO member Algix LLC, the world’s leading producer of algae bio-products has partnered with Effekt LLC, an environmentally-minded product and material development company. They’ve joined forces to create the first-ever algae-derived flexible foams! Algix and Effect will begin commercializing the foam in their new joint business, Bloom Holdings.

The foam is produced with Algix’s dried algae biomass (GMO-free) which is solely collected from waste streams across the US and Asia.

The flexible foam is already being sold as BLOOM™. Soon you might see this brand name on footwear, yoga mats, and toys—and who knows where else!

To learn more about this new deal, check out the full story on Gizmag. You can also find out more about Bloom at bloomfoam.com.

ABO applauds U.S. Reps. Scott Peters (D-CA) and Matt Salmon (R-AZ) for recently introducing a bill designed to amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that would spur research and development of carbon utilization technologies. The act will be called the ‘‘Carbon Capture Research and Development Act.’’

The Peters-Salmon bill would amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to require the Secretary of Energy to consider the objective of improving the conversion, use, and storage of carbon dioxide produced from fossil fuels in carrying out research and development programs under that Act.

Current approaches to emissions reduction that treat carbon like waste are energy-intensive and expensive, increasing costs for utilities and ultimately, ratepayers. Carbon utilization technologies like algae, conversely, convert waste carbon into marketable products. This approach can offset the cost of the carbon capture technology – and in some cases create an ongoing revenue stream. In both cases, ratepayers are spared.

For more information about the new bill, check out ABO’s press release here.

Recently, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) selected 16 projects to receive funding through NETL’s Carbon Capture Program. ABO is proud that two were algae-focused projects! This is great news for the algae industry and for the growing momentum behind carbon capture and utilization technologies.

The project descriptions are below, and you can check out the full list of awardees here.

Biological CO2 Use/Conversion

A Microalgae–Based Platform for the Beneficial Reuse of CO2 Emissions from Power Plants

The research team at University of Kentucky Research Foundation (Lexington, KY) – with University of Delaware College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment (Newark, DE) and ALGIX, LLC (Meridian, MS) – will study microalgae-based CO₂ capture with conversion of the resulting algal biomass to fuels and bioplastics. Scenedesmus acutus algae will be cultured in an innovative cyclic-flow photobioreactor; the algae will be harvested and dewatered using a University of Kentucky technology based on flocculation (a process where fine particles clump together)/sedimentation/filtration. The project will yield a conceptual design for an algae-based CO₂ capture system suitable for integration with a coal-fired power plant. The project will last 24 months.

Microalgae Commodities from Coal Plant Flue Gas CO2

MicroBio Engineering, Inc. (San Luis Obispo, CA) will integrate microalgal production systems into the Orlando (Florida) Utilities Commission Stanton Energy Center coal-fired power plant and study their ability to use and mitigate CO₂ emissions from flue gas. Experimental work at the plant and the University of Florida, Gainesville will test the growth of native microalgae under local conditions with actual flue gas and pure CO₂. Other partners include Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ), Scripps Institution of Oceanography (La Jolla, CA), Life Cycle Associates LLC (Portola Valley, CA), and SFA Pacific, Inc. (Palo Alto, CA). The project will last 24 months.

Congratulations to both of these projects!