Category: Blog

Help us build the algae industry

Students – Are you interested in doing more for your industry while completing your degree? Help define the algae sector of today and shape the industry of tomorrow as an Algae Biomass Organization volunteer virtual intern. Internships of 8-12 weeks are available and are completely online. Interns serve a vital role by assisting ABO with industry and policy research, social media and communications. Interns leave their experience with a new understanding of the interconnections between research, industry, government and policy, along with exciting new insights and connections. 

Intern positions available for winter, spring and summer 2017.

Individuals interested in the ABO volunteer virtual internship program should send a brief cover letter and CV or resume to Barb Scheevel, bscheevel@algaebiomass.org.

AgFunderNews recently published a great feature on algae and its promise across multiple sectors. The article initially addresses algae’s many virtues as a ‘powerhouse’ of nutrition, but proceeds to explain how algae shows a lot of promise in the clean energy space and the feed industry as well.

In the article, ABO’s own executive director, Matt Carr, explains that algae upends the traditional food vs. fuel argument, since it can be grown on land not traditionally used for agriculture. In Matt’s words, there are many “big global sustainability and resources challenges that algae is positioned to convert to opportunities.”

Many ABO members are also featured in the article, including Sapphire Energy, for its refined algal oil commercial facility in Columbus, New Mexico, and TerraVia, for its AlgaVia line of food ingredients.

Matt also delves into the challenges that the algae industry has faced, most notably the lack of investment: many algae technologies are new and require high capital investment, after all. Yet, as Matt explains, the federal government has done a great job of supporting the industry and capitalizing on its promise. As he concludes: “I think this is going to take off really quickly.”

Ontario will be soon be hosting an algal biorefinery demonstration project. A collaboration between NRC’s Algal Carbon Conversion (ACC) program, Pond Technologies and St Marys Cement, the project will involve a 25,000 L photobioreactor within a pilot scale algal biorefinery. The system is designed to rapidly recycle carbon dioxide and other airborne industrial emissions into biomass and other bioproducts through photosynthesis.

Pond Technologies will be supplying the photobioreactor, equipment and personnel; NRC will be contributing its expertise in algae (including cultivation, bioprocessing and selected algae strains); and the project will be taking place at a St Marys Cement plant in Ontario.

These efforts reflect a bigger push in Canada towards clean energy research, development and adoption. In 2015, the Canadian government committed to doubling funding for clean energy R&D by 2020.

For more details about the project and the Canadian government’s efforts in the space, check out the announcement.

The Algae Biomass Organization (ABO) has partnered with Egypt’s National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries (NIOF) to promote research and commercialization of algae technologies worldwide. Besides their interest in algae, both organizations hail from similarly named cities: NIOF is based in Alexandria, Egypt, while ABO has its home in Alexandria, Virginia.

ABO’s executive director Matt Carr met with Dr. Mohamed Ashour Fikry, NIOF coordinator, at the 2016 Algae Biomass Summit to add his signature to the agreement alongside that of the president of NIOF, Dr. Mohamed Abd El-Fattah Hamed.

The agreement lays out a framework for both organizations to work together to promote and support international policy to develop and grow the algae biomass industry. Cooperation will include exchanges of information, event promotion and other activities that will benefit the global algae industry.

More info about NIOF is available at: http://www.niof.sci.eg/

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.