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University of Toronto student gets financial boost for top spot in a national automotive R&D competition utilizing marine-derived Chitin
Posted On: February 3, 2012A new biodegradable material made from shrimp and crab shells that can replace petroleum-based plastics used in auto components helped a University of Toronto student win a national automotive competition. Aaron Guan, a master of science student, won the AUTO21 TestDRIVE competition, receiving a $10,000 scholarship for his work on recyclable, lightweight, polymeric nanocomposites.
Shrimp and crab shell fibres called chitin nanowhiskers form the base of this new material, which would allow automotive components to meet strict environmental standards without compromising vehicle safety. This material has a much higher strength-to-weight ratio compared to conventional plastics used in most automotive components, and provides higher mechanical strength without aesthetic flaws or deformation at lower densities.
Due to the composite nature of the material, mechanical properties can easily be engineered to suit various strength, stiffness and weight requirements simply by varying the combination of chitin nanowhisker and polymer content. The material is also completely renewable and sustainable as chitin nanowhiskers are derived from the waste of the fishing industry.
Algae.Tec Successfully Completes $5m Capital Raising With Patersons Securities
Posted On: February 3, 2012Algae.Tec Ltd has announced that the AUD$5,000,000 (USD$5,354,086.97) Placement through Patersons Securities Limited has been successfully completed.
As previously stated, this capital raising will be utilised to fund the fast-tracking of commercial projects recently announced.
Algae.Tec Executive Chairman, Roger Stroud, said the Company was extremely pleased with the capital raising.
“This again demonstrates that sophisticated investors are aligned with the need for alternative transport fuel technologies such as the Algae.Tec enclosed algae to biofuels solution,” said Stroud.
“The market is also responding to the recent milestones and commercial deal announcements the Company has signed with major companies in China, Sri Lanka and Europe.”
UC Davis and University of Tokyo collaborating on algae biofuels project
Posted On: January 22, 2012A better understanding of how algae can be used to make biofuels is the aim of a new joint project between UC Davis and the University of Tokyo, Japan. It is one of four new grants, jointly funded by the US National Science Foundation and the Japan Science and Technology Agency, to develop environment-friendly fuels and reduce pesticide use.
The four grants, totaling $12 million (¥960 million), will be divided between the Japanese and US laboratories. UC Davis’ share will be about $1.5 million over three years, with the possibility of renewal for another two years.
All four projects are based on metabolomics, an approach that uses high-tech analysis to understand all the chemicals involved in a living cell’s metabolism.
OriginOil and DOE to Develop Direct Conversion of Algae into Renewable Crude Oil Source
Posted On: January 22, 2012Good news on the algae-to-oil front has been released by Los Angeles-based OriginOil, Inc., in conjunction with the US Department of Energy. The company will work in partnership with Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to help algae growers to enter the global crude oil market.
OriginOil, a developer of a technology platform to extract oil from algae, reports that it plans to co-develop an integrated system with the DOE’s INL for direct conversion of raw algae into a renewable crude oil that can be used by existing petroleum refineries.
Algae Biodiesel Company World Health Energy Holdings Inc. Announces Letter of Intent to Develop Up to 250 Acre Algae Farm With Prime Inc. India
Posted On: December 27, 2011$100 Million Project Envisioned for Production of Biodiesel and Commercial Fish Food
World Health Energy Holdings, Inc. , a public holding company developing joint venture partnerships for algae production for biodiesel and commercial fish food, announced today the signing of Letter of Intent with Prime Inc., an India Industrial and transport Company, to develop a biodiesel production facility ramping up to 250 acres with a budget of up to 100 million dollars.
The proposed sites for development are in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, India and will utilize an Algae Enhancement Technology, known as the GB3000 system, used for growing algae for the production of Fish Feed, Proteins and Bio-fuel in the Territory of India. Prime Inc. India’s current clients include: Exon, Shell, General Electric (GE) and Siemens.
Maersk Tests Algae-Based Biofuel in Cargo Voyage to India
Posted On: December 27, 2011Maersk is testing a range of algae-based biofuel blends aboard a container ship headed to India as part of a project with the U.S. Navy.
Maersk, based in Denmark, has worked with the Navy for about 30 years. However, the biofuels testing program is the first partnership between the world’s largest commercial container carrier and the Navy’s Naval Sea Systems Command.
Both the Navy and the Maersk Line, which is part of the A.P. Moller – Maersk Group, are on a mission to reduce the environmental impacts of their operations at sea and on land.
Turning algae into energy gets Halifax company on award shortlist
Posted On: December 27, 2011A Halifax biotechnology company is hoping green slime will help its business take flight.
Marine Arctic & Antarctic Technologies Inc. is one of 10 startups that made the shortlist of the Nova Scotia Clean Tech Open, Innovacorp announced Wednesday.
The competition’s goal is to assist a clean technology company in getting established in the province.
Marine Arctic & Antarctic Technologies is developing technology to mass produce micro-algae for use in biofuel and other products.
“It’s like slop,” CEO Mather Carscallen said of the raw material during an interview.
“Some of it smells bad. Some of it doesn’t. It’s pretty much every different smell, shape, colour you could ever imagine.”
The algae would be incubated in a bioreactor that could vary in size and designed to be cost effective, he said.
Shimp-derived shrilk material made from chitin
Posted On: December 27, 2011Material scientists admire spider silk for being lightweight and strong. Now another arthropod product is getting into the act—insect cuticle, the tough, flexible material in the insect exoskeleton.
Researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering analyzed insect cuticle, which includes chitin and other proteins, such as the fibroin also found in spider silk. They then devised a method to produce a material made up of layers of chitin and fibroin. The result is on par with an aluminum alloy for strength, but at half the metal’s weight.
They call the stuff “shrilk”—a combination of shrimp, as discarded shrimp shells are a good source of chitin, and silk. Its flexibility can be manipulated by adjusting the water content–just as insects do. The research is in the journal Advanced Materials.
Australian algae trial could lower carbon emissions
Posted On: December 14, 2011A ground-breaking experiment that uses algae to absorb carbon dioxide emissions could have the rest of the world green with envy.
Government-owned power corporation Stanwell will trial the clean energy technology developed by James Cook University at its coal-fired plant at Kingaroy, in southeast Queensland.
The trial involves trapping carbon emissions from the power station and pumping them into water which is used solely to grow algae.
Because of the high concentration of Co2, the algae doubles in mass every one to two days and in vast quantities it can be used to produce either bio-diesel or cattle feed.
A more profitable use for fish waste
Posted On: December 6, 2011The majority of fish waste is turned into fishmeal or fish oil. But what if there was a way for processors to earn three to four times more money from selling their fish waste?
Gurry Investments, a Boston-based investment firm established in 2000, is using its technology to produce organic fertilizer using waste from farmed fish. The company, working with fertilizer producer Multi Bloom and Mega Green, which is owned by Consolidated Catfish of Isola, Miss., uses a hydrolysis process. The skin and bones are removed from filleted fish, leaving the protein. The offal is ground into a slurry form, processed and separated in a three-stage centrifuge. The result is a product with 10 percent high quality fish oil and 4 percent sediment, which is used as ground cover, hydrolysate or organic fertilizer.
According to Carl Reetz, president of Gurry Investments, using fish waste for organic fertilizer instead of fishmeal or fish oil can benefit both processors and the seafood industry as a whole.
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