Category: Blog

A few weeks ago Propel Fuels and Solazyme teamed up to offer consumers in California the first algae-derived biodiesel ever available for drivers at the pump. Today the Imperial Valley News reports that the state’s Department of Food and Agriculture’s Division of Measurement Standards (DMS) has declared the fuel compliant with quality specification standards.

“Samples were tested to ensure overall high-quality engine performance and to ascertain that exhaust
emissions will remain low. The tests were also good indicators that engine deposits and engine wear will be minimal, and that corrosion and filter plugging are reduced – very important factors for fuel used in diesel engines.”

Hard evidence that the research and commercialization efforts of the algae industry are starting to pay off!

 

Domestic Fuel writes today about research at Iowa State University that shows algae can be used to remove the ammonia that is a by-product of raising poultry. The ammonia, which if released can contribute to acid rain, would be fed to algae that can later be used to create biofuels, feed, biochemicals or other products.

The tests showed that up to 96% of the ammonia could be removed from air exhausts in poultry houses. You can read more about this fascinating application of algae here.

It’s another example of algae’s ability to take something that was considered a harmful waste and turn it into a valuable product–the organisms are already well-known for their ability to soak up greenhouse gases and contaminants in wastewater.

 

It has been easy to make the case for algal biomass as a sustainable source for fuel, food, feed and other commodities, but this week we were stunned to learn of the latest use for algae – as a new treatment for cancer.

That’s right. Algae just might be able to cure cancer.

This takes the importance of what our industry is doing to a whole new level, and ought to serve as a powerful justification for continued public and private investment in algae.

This week, news published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences from the prolific lab of Dr. Stephen Mayfield at the University of California at San Diego, showed that scientists had developed a way, using algae, to create a human therapeutic drug to treat cancer. According to UCSD, this development “opens the door for making these and other ‘designer’ proteins in larger quantities and much more cheaply than can now be made from mammalian cells.”

“Because we can make the exact same drug in algae, we have the opportunity to drive down the price down dramatically,” said Stephen Mayfield, a professor of biology at UC San Diego and director of the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology or SD-CAB, a consortium of research institutions that is also working to develop new biofuels from algae.

This new development showcases the incredible power of algae to address some of our world’s most pressing issues, whether it’s fueling our vehicles, remediating waste water and CO2, or creating sustainable animal feed and human health foods. Come to think of it, there really isn’t much that algae can’t do.

Yesterday the U.S. Senate approved another pro-biofuels amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). By a vote of 54 to 41, the Senate approved an amendment by Senator Kay Hagan which would allow the Department of Defense to invest in biorefineries.

Without Senator Hagan’s amendment, the Senate bill would have included language to prohibit the Department of Defense from executing the Memorandum of Understanding between the Navy, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Energy which, using the Defense Production Act, creates a public-private partnership for investing in cost competitive, advanced biofuels production. The Hagan amendment will allow the Pentagon to continue their plans to support commercialization of domestic biofuels in order to relieve our military of reliance on unstable nations for fuel.

There is still work to be done and the NDAA must make it through House and Senate negotiations for a final bill, but this is an important step.

ABO would like to thank everybody in the algae community, and the biofuels industry as a whole for their support for this amendment. Congratulations on this latest success!

Yesterday the Senate voted to strip language from the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which would have prohibited the Department of Defense from purchasing alternative fuel unless it was cost-competitive with traditional fossil fuel.  By a bipartisan vote of 62-37 members of the Senate made it clear that their position is to allow the Department of Defense to continue its support of biofuels for military purposes.

This is an important win for the biofuels community. While the House version of the NDAA still includes language prohibiting DOD from purchasing alternative fuel which is not cost-competitive with traditional fossil fuels, the elimination of this language from the Senate bill makes this issue one that will have to be resolved when the House and Senate work out the NDAA differences in conference committee.

In today’s Biofuels Digest ABO executive director Mary Rosenthal writes about the significance of yesterday’s vote.