Author: Carrie Cox

The San Diego Union-Tribune recently had a great feature on newly minted ABO Board Member Stephen Mayfield. Mayfield is the director of both the California Center for Algae Biotechnology and the Food and Fuel for the 21^st Century research unit at UC San Diego. Notably, he also played a key role in starting up Sapphire Energy, Triton Health and Nutrition and Algenesis Materials—three algae-based companies. In fact, he has spent the past 25 years experimenting in algae. In short, he is an algae superstar!

The piece in the Union-Tribune highlights his work in the biofuels space in particular. Mayfield is currently focused on optimizing algae for crude oil extraction. As he explains it, there are three areas of focus in the extraction space: the strain of algae, the growing process (ponds and care/feeding) and the harvesting/conversion process. His particular emphasis is on the strain. In his words, “we spend most of our time working on the strand: getting the best algae that anyone in the world can use, because it’s productive and it’s resistant to pests and pathogens and it grows fast and it produces good oil.”

Despite considerable progress and a product that closely resembles petroleum (all crude oil we use today originated from algae), Mayfield still finds the space challenging. With volatile oil prices, the funding for biofuels has been inconsistent in recent years—during times with low oil prices, the drive to support biofuels diminishes considerably. Nonetheless, a combination of sustained support and a superior product could eventually revolutionize the fuel industry.

A recent article in The Sunday Times indicates that seaweed could hold the key to carbon capture. Kelp forests have potential to hold close to 2 million tons of carbon a year, while the seabed could store more than 2 billion tons, significantly more than the 1.6 billion tons in peatland.

“Seaweed cultivation has the potential to sequester large volumes of blue carbon quickly while improving water quality, providing habitats for marine species, increasing employment and producing carbon-neutral products.”

Blue carbon is the carbon stored and sequestered in coastal ecosystems. These valuable ecosystems hold vast carbon reservoirs, they sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide through primary production, and then deposit in their sediments.

The Algae Biomass Organization has announced the newest plenary session for the 2016 Algae Biomass Summit: Flask to Fork. The plenary session, which will take place on the second day of the conference, Monday, October 24^th, will address algae-based foods and ingredients.

Global consumers are increasingly demanding healthier, more sustainable food options and leading algae innovators are stepping up to meet those demands with exciting new product offerings. In fact, algae can be found in products ranging from sausages to chocolate to energy bars to cooking oil. Will consumers embrace algae as the new ultra-sustainable superfood? The newly announced Flask to Fork session will delve into the latest market trends and algae product innovations, and will look ahead to opportunities and challenges in human health and nutrition.

A variety of panelists with deep expertise on the topic will present their perspectives on the future of algae in the nutrition space, including:

• Aha Belay, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Earthrise Nutritionals
• Xun Wang, President, Triton Algae Innovations, Ltd.
• Ross Zirkle, Director of Molecular Biotechnology, DSM Nutritional Products
• Margaret McCormick, Chief Executive Officer, Matrix Genetics

For more details on Flask to Fork and other Summit sessions, please visit the Algae Biomass Summit webpage.

Reminder: August 1^st is the last day to receive the early bird discount when registering for the conference.

The Algae Biomass Organization has announced the newest plenary session for the 2016 Algae Biomass Summit: Cashing in on Carbon. The plenary session, which will take place on the third day of the conference, Tuesday, October 25^th, will address algae-based carbon capture and carbon utilization technologies. The past year alone has seen a wave of endorsements for algae and other microbial approaches to mitigating industrial carbon emissions: the U.S. Department of Energy’s Billion Ton Study Update quantified for the first time the strong domestic opportunity for algae-based carbon capture, a global engineering giant launched an algae-based carbon utilization platform, and the National Coal Council called for greater investment in algae and other utilization technologies. A variety of panelists with deep expertise on the topic will present their perspectives on the state of technology, policy and the path to market adoption.

Panelists include:

• Mark Allen, Vice President of Integrated Carbon Solutions, Accelergy Corporation
• Raffi Mandirosian, Vice President, Joule Unlimited
• David Hazlebeck, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Global Algae Innovations
• John Benemann, MicroBio Engineering Inc.

For more details on Cashing in on Carbon and other Summit sessions, please visit the Algae Biomass Summit webpage.

Reminder: August 1^st is the last day to receive the early bird discount when registering for the conference.

Put San Diego on your 2017 travel schedule for the 2nd International Solar Fuels Conference, set to take place July 6-10, 2017.

Hosted at the University of California, San Diego, this conference will bring together scientists working with biological and chemical approaches to using solar energy to make fuels.

 

Download the brochure for more information.