Category: Blog

Get your algae-derived product in front of industry leaders. This year’s Algae Biomass Summit in Salt Lake City, Utah, October 29-November 1, will host the Algae Product Showcase in the Exhibit Hall. The Showcase will display algae-derived products, or products containing algae based ingredients, from companies all over the world.

This is a great opportunity to present your latest product to the rest of the industry — including future investors and partners — and to keep up to date with what is new and exciting in algae based products and ingredients.

Each entry is accompanied by product details, manufacturer’s name and company information, and, if applicable, booth location on the Summit Exhibit Hall floor.

Participation in the Algae Product Showcase is $100 for ABO members, and $150 for non-members; ABS 2017 attendance is not required. Please visit this site to apply: http://www.algaebiomasssummit.org/page/ShowcaseSubmission

For more information and participation rules be sure to download this brochure. 

ABO members Exxon Mobil Corp and Synthetic Genomics Inc have announced a new breakthrough that can double the production of lipids in algae, with little effect on growth rates.

The new findings were published in Nature Biotechnology, and are an important step in the partnership between Exxon and Synthetic Genomics to finds ways for algae to become a source of energy that doesn’t compete with food, water resources, or have such negative impacts on the climate as fossil fuels. 

The genetically modified algae species Nannochloropsis gaditana was able to convert 40 percent of CO2 into lipids, a big jump over prior 15-20 percent levels. Lipids in algae are the oils that can be converted into a variety of useful products for people, including fuels that are chemically identical to those that are processed by modern refineries. 

The partnership between these two companies dates to 2009, and both have been committed to developing algae into a technology that can offer solutions to a number of global challenges. Exxon also recently became a sponsor of the 2017 Algae Biomass Summit, coming up this fall in Salt Lake City.

Read more in this Reuters story, and this press release.  Exxon’s Science & Technology blog also takes a look behind the scenes.

Congratulations to the team that made this happen!  

Earlier this year, Andrew Dahl, President and CEO of Zivo Bioscience (one of our newest ABO members), published a fantastic piece on algae’s potential in Food & Drink International . As Dahl points out, the global population will increase to about 8 billion in just under 25 years and all of those individuals will need protein. Yet protein production is not on track to increase enough to satisfy the increasing demand. So how do we find more?

Many proposed alternatives have a far too negative energy gradient—they consume much more energy than they provide. Others require less energy, but they instead are in need of great swaths of desirable land, or vast water resources to produce.

Enter algae. Algae can be grown, as Dahl describes it, in “a covered, shallow pond constructed of inexpensive, readily-available materials obtainable in many parts of the world.” And not only that, but algae’s energy efficiency is impressive: it is 5x higher than soy and twice that of corn. Its yield per acre is significant as well: “under ideal conditions, the same amount of land used for growing corn could produce up to 25 times more protein from microalgae in part due to continuous harvest year-round and significantly higher protein content found in microalgae.”

Yet Dahl is not shy about pointing out that we still have a long way to go. Major companies haven’t yet committed to algae because it has yet to be grown at scale,  and algae producers are hesitant to increase production without an established market. Rurthermore,  support from federal and state governments for R&D has much room to grow.

Once those steps fall into line, however, algae is primed to capitalize on the opportunity, and Zivo Biosciences is positioning itself to a leader in a space with some exciting times ahead.

Read the full article here.

The Department of Agriculture and the Department of Energy have teamed up to offer $9 million in funding through the Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI). The initiative is intended to strengthen the nation’s energy independence by supporting the development of bioenergy feedstocks, biofuels and biobased products. The winning projects, in turn, will ideally help to diversify the nation’s energy portfolio and to develop ‘economically and environmentally sustainable sources of renewable biomass.’

A number of ABO members will want to review this opportunity. The target technical areas are as follows:

• Feedstocks development
• Biofuels and biobased products development
• Biofuels development analysis

For more details and for the full request for applications, visit the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Exchange website. Concept papers are due on July 7^th and full applications are due by September 22^nd.

The Algae Biomass Organization has posted the preliminary agenda for the 2017 Algae Biomass Summit! Plenary topics have been determined, tracks have been set and speakers have been selected for the world’s largest algae conference, to be held in Salt Lake City, October 29 – November 1.  

Register today for the Summit to network with the top scientists and companies leading a wave of innovation in algae technology and product development.&nbsp

Early bird rates expire August 1st!

Topics include: algae in agriculture, food & nutrition, carbon & water management, advanced materials, energy, and more. 

View the agenda here.