Category: Blog

On July 31 the Department of Energy announced more than $97 million in funding for 33 projects that will support high-impact technology research and development to accelerate the bioeconomy. Several algae projects were awarded a total of more than $21 million, funding that was made possible with bi-partisan support in Congress. 

ABO corporate, academic and student members represented many of the awardees:

Global Algae Innovations, San Diego, CA
Production of Algae Biofuel and Bioproducts with CO2 Direct Air Capture
$2,000,000
Scale-up of Novel Algae Drying and Extraction Unit Operations
$4,000,000

Montana State University, Bozeman, MT
Transforming High pH/High Alkalinity Cultivation through Beneficial Microbiomes and Improved Pond Design
$2,000,000

Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
ASU’s Polymer-enhanced Cyanobacterial Bioproductivity (AUDACity)
$1,999,051

University of California – San Diego, La Jolla, CA
Biomolecular Films for Direct Air Capture of CO2
$2,000,000

MicroBio Engineering, Inc., San Luis Obispo, CA
Microalgae Commodities Production with a Direct Air Capture Process
$1,999,882

Lumen Bioscience, Incorporated, Seattle, WA
Alkaline Carbon Capture and Expression-Streamlined Spirulina Cultivated in Air for Reliable Bioproducts, Oil, and Nutrition
$2,000,000

Duke University, Beaufort, NC
Development of High Value Bioproducts and Enhancement of Direct-Air-Capture Efficiency with a Marine Algae Biofuel Production System
$1,967,473

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL
Process Optimization and Real-Time Control for Synergistic Microalgae Cultivation and Wastewater Treatment.
$2,000,000

Utah State University, Logan UT
Synergistic Municipal Wastewater Treatment Using a Rotating Algae Biofilm Reactor.
$1,877,735

Many of these awardees will be represented at the virtual Algae Biomass Summit. Register today to begin collaborating with the leaders of the algae agriculture revolution.

Biofuels Digest reports on all of the awards here.

See all of the selected projects here.

On Wednesday, August 12 ABO will be hosting the first of our Industry Spotlight sessions that will kick off the virtual 2020 Algae Biomass Summit. The new virtual format of the Summit should make this event very attractive for anyone with an interest in algae agriculture.

 

New pricing: The Summit’s lower rates this year will make it easier for anyone to discover the latest innovations, trends, and opportunities.

A new agenda: One ticket provides access to 100+ speakers, virtual tours, poster presenters, an online trade show, career development workshops and much more.

A longer schedule: The Summit’s meetings will stretch over several weeks, and every presentation will be recorded for later viewing.
Enhanced networking with Whova: The Summit’s award-winning mobile app (Whova) is designed to make virtual networking a prime feature of the event. Attendees can use advanced matchmaking, start private chats, monitor group discussions, schedule virtual meetups, participate in photo contests or event games, and much more.

A new exhibitor experience: A virtual tradeshow will include exhibitors offering video demonstrations, live Q&A chats about their products and services, special promotions made available only to Summit attendees, and more.

Virtual tours: The Summit’s virtual tour series will include video demonstrations of cutting-edge technologies that are being deployed into the market, as well as a live Q&A sessions with tour leaders.

Keep connections going: The Summit’s recorded program and app will be available to attendees long after the event concludes. Review presentations, reach out to new connections, and discover anything you may have missed the first time around.

A new report is required reading for those serious about developing new algae technologies, products, and ultimately deploying algae agriculture to create a more productive and sustainable economy.

The Algae Interagency Working Group (AWG) is a collection of federal agencies coordinating a range of activities on algae R&D supported by the United States government. They operate within the Biomass Research and Development (BR&D) Board,  which coordinates research and development activities concerning biobased fuels, products, and power across federal agencies.

BR&D’s new report, the Federal Activities Report on the Bioeconomy: Algae, contains a wealth of information on the breadth and scope of federal resources available to researchers and companies seeking to understand and use algae for the benefit of the bioeconomy.

Details include a number of new sources of funding that are available, clarity on regulatory issues facing those developing new products, and information on how stakeholders can engage with the AWG moving forward.

Download the report from the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

A number of federal officials will be making presentations at this year’s virtual Algae Biomass Summit. They will be on hand to discuss federal programs that can support algae, as well as commercialization projects.

Some of the Summit sessions with speakers from federal agencies include: 

• Managing Carbon Dioxide Utilization for Algae R&D on Thursday, August 20, 2020
• Macroalgae Biomass: A Sustainable Feedstock for Food, Feed, Fuels and Chemicals on Tuesday, August 25, 2020
• Managing Production Risk Through Crop Insurance on Tuesday, September 1, 2020
• The Food and Feed Keynote and Plenary Panel on Tuesday, September 8, 2020
• The Ecosystems Services Keynote and Plenary Panel on Wednesday, September 9
• The Biofuels and Biomaterials Keynote and Plenary Panel on Thursday, September 10
• The ABC’s: Algae, Biofuels and Cars panel  on Thursday, September 17

See the Summit agenda for full details.

Register for the Summit today and access these and dozens of other presentations. All Summit content will be recorded for later viewing, and the Summit’s mobile app offers uniques opportunities to engage and collaborate with attendees.

ABO is putting its weight behind establishing an Algae Center of Excellence to create connections between industry partners, academic institutions, and government agencies to accelerate commercialization of algae products and services. 

As a follow up to the significant win for the algae industry in the 2018 Agriculture Improvement Act (Farm Bill), where algae is included as a crop, members from ABO’s Future of Algae for Food and Feed and their stakeholders have laid out the next steps in launching an industry wide Algae Center of Excellence.

The purpose of the Algae Center of Excellence (ACE) is to accelerate development, scale up, and commercialization of innovative, sustainable and eco-restorative solutions for the production of food, feed and bioproducts from algae.  The 2018 Farm Bill included an Algae Agriculture Research Program in its “High Priority Research and Extension Initiatives” to address challenges in commercial-scale algae production and to support development of algae-based agriculture solutions. The ACE aims to facilitate efforts among the scientific and business disciplines to tackle the significant research objectives and commercial deployment challenges that cannot be addressed by any one discipline alone.

The ACE proposal highlights the need to collaborate and advance the industry in a way that will break through the current barriers in global growth. In particular the proposal identifies 12 proposed activities within the Algae Center of Excellence that be showcased as areas for development. These are:

1. Road mapping to identify new research directions and technologies
2. Develop multi revenue streams from biomass for improved economic viability
3. Food and Feed application development
4. Bioproduct application development
5. Biofertilizer/soil Amendment and biostimulants application for soil and plant health 
6. Restorative and eco-industrial rural development
7. Develop agronomic strategies for algal production
8. Develop a genetic toolbox and metabolic engineering techniques for commercially relevant organisms 
9. Develop metabolic engineering techniques for improved industrial characteristics 
10. Optimize economically viable harvesting, processing, and storing technologies 
11. Life Cycle and Technoeconomic Analysis of algal production 
12. Support consumer research and marketing

The Algae Center of Excellence will include a Steering Committee, Technical Advisory board, and Industry partners that will all work to ensure that the objectives of the Center are relevant to commercialization and will result in growth of the industry as a whole. For further detail on ACE and the full proposal click here.

Currently, members are looking to build upon this vision and are looking for partners who are motivated to help launch the Center. For more information or questions about ACE please reach out to Algae for Food and Feed committee member Jesse Traller, jessetraller@globalgae.com.

You can also learn more about this effort at the Algae session at ABLC 2020 on July10 at 11am ET.  And for a broader view of the algae industry, be sure to attend the Annual Algae Biomass Summit, including the annual Algae for Food and Feed meeting, that takes place virtually from August 12-October 2.