Author: Carrie Cox

Summit Profile: Global Algae Innovations

The Algae Biomass Summit is now in its second day, following a successful kick-off day on Monday. Yesterday, attendees heard two fantastic keynote speeches, listened to two opening plenaries and participated in two concurrent track panel sessions. Today promises to be another dynamic day, with updates from the Algae Foundation, another illustrious keynote speaker, a plenary session on carbon use and multiple track panel sessions.

One of the company’s participating in (and exhibiting at the Summit) is Global Algae Innovations (GAI), a company that was featured on the U.S. Department of Energy’s website just this week. At its core, GAI is focused on producing biofuel from algae by streamlining and innovating across the many processes involved in the production. GAI can boast of several breakthrough innovations that they have incorporated into their Alae Farm in Kauai, Hawaii:

  • Instead of requiring a paddle to mix the algae in their raceway ponds, GAI uses a sloped design that employs the power of gravity for the same purpose.
  • They have invented a flue gas delivery system that supplies CO2 from a local coal-fired power plant, accelerating algae growth with a local resource while simultaneously reducing emissions.
  • Their Zobi Harvester harvests and dewaters algae with 30 times less energy than the typical, complicated process of dewatering algae before it can be converted into biofuel.

Through all of these innovations and more, GAI is working to bring down the cost of algal biofuel, making it more competitive in the fuel market.

For more details about GAI, visit their website. To learn more about the Summit and its fantastic line-up of exhibitors and participants, visit the Algae Biomass Summit website.

Summit Profile: UniVerve

The Algae Biomass Summit, the world’s largest algae conference, kicked off today in Phoenix, AZ. Key players in the algae industry will be speaking on panels throughout the conference, exhibiting in the Summit’s renowned exhibit hall, displaying research as part of poster displays or simply sharing recent developments during countless networking opportunities.

One company featured at the Summit is UniVerve, an Israeli company that has developed a unique, scalable microalgae biomass production system, which requires less land, water and energy than other systems, has high yield per square meter and is easy to construct, operate and maintain. The company’s business model is to license its technology to companies that want to cultivate algae for various purposes.

UniVerve is currently in final negotiations with a dynamic algae company in Omega-3 market and expects to begin cooperation in early 2017.

UniVerve’s poster can be found in the ABO Exhibit and Poster Hall at the Summit (#308).

For more details about the Summit and our great list of exhibitors, please visit the Algae Biomass Summit website.

Arizona to Host Global Algae Industry at the 10th Annual Algae Biomass Summit

Local coalition of business, government and academic leaders bring the largest algae conference in the world to Arizona

PHOENIX, Ariz. (October 18, 2016) The largest algae industry conference in the world comes to the Phoenix area next week as the Algae Biomass Organization hosts the 2016 Algae Biomass Summit.  The Summit will convene at the Renaissance Glendale Phoenix Hotel and Spa, October 23-26. Information about the event can be found at http://www.algaebiomasssummit.org.

The Algae Biomass Summit is a scientific and commercial conference where the latest advances in the new and fast-paced algae industry are put on display. The 2016 event features examples of the latest algae-derived products, a sold out exhibit hall and over 100 speakers. Topic areas to be addressed include everything from algae-based cooking oils and fertilizers, to algae-based carbon utilization, policy support and project finance.

“New algae cultivation technologies are beginning to have enormous impacts in markets where consumers are demanding products that are better for the environment and human health,” said Matt Carr, executive director of the Algae Biomass Organization. “Arizona has been at the forefront of the research and commercialization projects that are proving how algae can be used to make everything from fuel to feed to food. The potential is unlimited and we are excited to bring the latest advances from around the world to Arizona.”

Many key Arizona-based organizations came together to ensure that the 10th Algae Biomass Summit would come to the Copper State:

  • Arizona State University’s Arizona Center for Algae Technology and Innovation (AzCATI)
  • Arizona BioIndustry Association
  • Arizona Business Incubation Association
  • ATP3: the Algae Testbed Public-Private Partnership
  • Cactus IFT
  • City of Phoenix
  • City of Mesa
  • The Greater Phoenix Economic Development Council
  • Heliae
  • University of Arizona

“Arizona is giving rise to a new generation of algae industry workers, conducting cutting-edge research,” said John McGowen, Director of Operations at AzCATI , an algae technology testbed and training center based at Arizona State University’ s Polytechnic campus in Mesa, Arizona that will host a tour for Summit attendees. “The advances we have pioneered are having impacts on the industry worldwide, making Phoenix a natural fit for the Summit.”

“The decision to locate the summit here is the direct result of efforts by Arizona-based business, academic and technology leaders and is an acknowledgment of the leadership role the state has played in advancing algae technology as a sustainable source of fuel, food, feed and other products,” said said Joan Koerber-Walker president and CEO of the Arizona BioIndustry Association

Speakers and attendees at the Algae Biomass Summit will include national and international technologists, producers, scientists, investors, end-user companies, students and policy makers. Over the last decade participants have expounded on algae’s ability to make fuel, utilize CO2 to make valuable products, provide nutrition to humans and animals, create chemical products, synthesize pharmaceuticals, and provide jobs for millions of Americans, with little to no impact on freshwater supplies or agricultural land (read more at www.allaboutalgae.com).

This year participants will continue to push those and other integral topics such as commercialization of algal production, government and private policies, lifecycle analysis, project funding and the emerging ways that algae can address global challenges.

Products made from algae are the natural solution to the energy, food, economic and climate challenges facing the world today. This tiny but powerful organism has the ability to simultaneously put fuels in vehicles, reuse CO2, provide nutrition for animals and people, and create jobs for millions of Americans. More information can be found at 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.

Seizing CO2’s Potential

CO2 has a lot of potential. That may not be a sentence that one hears every day, but research and innovation have shown that CO2 can be transformed into innumerable valuable products. In addition to uses such as supplementing fertilizer or as a chemical feedstock for the synthesis of other chemicals, we in the algae space are particularly familiar with CO2’s ability to accelerate algae growth, speeding along the production of numerous algae-based goods. Yet current federal policy does little to encourage alternative solutions for CO2—making the very logical decision to recycle CO2 less appealing for decision makers in the space.

In a recent article in The Hill, Laurie Purpuro, Tim Peckinpaugh and Peter Nelson, eloquently lay out the current landscape and call for more federal support for carbon capture and utilization (CCU); or at least an even playing field. As they explain, the preferred option, as expressed through federal policy, is CCS, or carbon capture and sequestration. CCS involves capturing the carbon and injecting it into caverns in the ground and/or using it for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Yet the alternative—CCU—would capture carbon and apply it for beneficial purposes. As the authors explain, it would treat carbon as the valuable raw material that it is instead of a waste product.

Senators Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) have introduced a bill to do just that—to even the playing field for CCU. S. 3179 proposes to extend a tax credit to CCU applications in addition to the CCS and EOR applications it already serves. As the article explains, S. 3179 would be an important step in the right direction for giving CCU the support it needs in order to thrive and prove its value.

For more information, and for the article itself, visit The Hill.

Natural Dyes: The Promising Algae-based Solution

Earlier this month, the New York Times published a great feature on natural dyes. The article walks its readers through the history of artificial dyes and their fall from grace, diving into today’s quest for natural alternatives. After establishing their dominance in the early to mid 20th century, many studies since the 1950s have linked artificial dyes to everything from hyperactivity in children to distress and discomfort in adults. While they have not been banned in the U.S., public opinion has moved against them, and there has been a strong movement in recent years towards natural dyes.

The article points out, however, just how difficult it is to make natural dyes with the same aesthetic as artificial ones (and, as the author emphasizes, aesthetics are of utmost importance when it comes to consumption). It uses Mars, a company that has committed to using only natural dyes within five years’ time, as an example—they have been feverishly attempting to recreate their artificial colors in natural form, yet with only minimal success.

One of the most promising solutions? Algae-based dyes. The piece profiles ABO Board Member Amha Belay, who runs an algae farm at Earthrise Nutritionals in Southern California’s Imperial Valley that extracts blue pigment from spirulina. An already successful operation, Belay explains in the article that “blue is just the beginning.” As the author cleverly points out, “in a handful of soggy spirulina, Belay can see the potential for a sort of Crayola wonderland.” And Mars is enthusiastically applying algae to its products with considerable success.

This is of course not news to the algae industry. Algae has demonstrated great promise in the dye industry for many years and its position has only strengthened as the movement towards natural dyes has intensified. Matrix Genetics, another great ABO member, was featured in a Huffington Post article for its work manipulating genes in algae to produce blue dyes a little over a year ago.

There is of course more research to be done and progress to be made, but, as the article points out, algae is off to a very promising start. It is certainly satisfying to see those efforts recognized!