Category: Blog

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. 

The Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) today announced that it has awarded $15 million for three algae-based biofuels projects. The grants are intended to advance research and development within the industry, ultimately speeding along the production of renewable, economic alternatives to fossil fuels. Significantly, a number of participants in all three projects are Algae Biomass Organization members, including our newest member: General Electric!

Funding for these projects was made available through Congressional appropriations, and was due in no small part to the efforts of ABO members in the research and business communities to keep elected officials apprised of the potential for algae to make an enormous impact in our energy, economic and environmental security.

The three projects include:

• Further development of Global Algae Innovations’ open raceway pond system in collaboration with the University of California-San Diego, TSD Management Associates, Texas A&M University, General Electric, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The project will combine ‘best-in-class’ cultivation and pre-processing technologies with innovative strain development.
• Creation of a viable biofuel intermediate by Algenol Biotech LLC in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Georgia Institute of Technology and Reliance Industries Ltd. The team will be collaborating on enhancing the productivity of cyanobacteria and successfully converting the resultant biomass into a biofuel intermediate using a photo-bioreactor system.
• Development of a wide range of integrated technologies by MicroBio Engineering, Inc. in partnership with Cal Poly University, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories and Heliae. The focus of the collaboration includes increasing yields of algal biofuel production, improving treatment of wastewater, producing higher value co-products and mitigating carbon dioxide.

These dynamic projects will do much to advance the algae biofuel industry and represent a maturing of innovation in the space. The efforts will directly address the purpose of the body providing the grant: the EERE is intended to accelerate the development and deployment of renewable energy technologies with the intent to strengthen U.S. energy security, environmental quality and economic vitality. Algae’s promise in all three categories prove these awards will ultimately be a boon to the country.

Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and five of his Senate colleagues introduced today the Carbon Capture and Utilization Act of 2016, a bill that will provide provide tax credit support for algae and other carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technologies that can convert greenhouse gas emissions into valuable products such as advanced biofuels, animal feed, fertilizer and chemical ingredients. The proposed language would add CCU technologies to section 45Q of the tax code, which already provides credits for the adoption of carbon capture and sequestration technologies.

The bill is expected to generate and incentivize new innovations to reduce emissions in the U.S. “Preventing the worst of climate change will mean deploying a broad range of technologies to reduce carbon emissions,” said Senator Whitehouse, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.  “This bill would provide a boost for entrepreneurs in Rhode Island and across the country who turn harmful carbon pollution into useful products.  That incentive will spur economic growth and help protect our environment and public health.”

Of particular interest to the algae community are provisions in the bill that would allow smaller projects to qualify for the credit. This will be a significant boost for many projects that seek to demonstrate how cutting-edge algae cultivation technologies can be used to consume the CO2 from power plants for the production of valuable biomass, biofuels and other products.

Read ABO’s statement here.

To read the full announcement, visit http://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/whitehouse-introduces-carbon-capture-and-utilization-bill

The U.S. Department of Energy in partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) released its 2016 Billion-Ton Report on Tuesday. The report is the third in a series of DOE assessments to calculate the potential supply of biomass to support the United States bioeconomy.

New to the 2016 report and of special interest to ABO, however, is the assessment and acceptance of algae as a viable renewable resource for the development of biofuel, biopower, and bioproducts. Other renewable resources in the report include biomass from agricultural, forestry, and waste.

According to the report, the United States possess ample resources to produce large quantities of biomass from algae.

Among the DOE’s findings on algae:

• Nearly 140,000 square miles of land suitable for open pond algae farms are available in the United States;
• CO₂ resources in the United States could be used to produce nearly 1.4 billion tons of algae annually;
• An analysis of the productivity of a single strain of saltwater algae found the potential to produce 86 million tons of algal biomass annually and capture 211 million tons of CO₂ from coal, ethanol and natural gas sources.

Overall, the United States currently uses 400 million tons of dry biomass resources annually. The report’s findings show that this amount could increase to 1.57 billion tons which would subsequently decrease greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil.

The 2016 Billion-Ton Report confirms the need and viability for expansion of the U.S. bioeconomy. Of significance to the ABO, the report reaffirms the importance of the work our members are doing with algal bioproducts.

Read ABO’s full statement on the report here.

To read the full report, visit http://energy.gov/eere/articles/future-bioeconomy-supported-more-one-billion-tons-biomass-potential