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Novozymes and Sea6 Energy Team on Seaweed Research
Posted On: February 20, 2012Novozymes has announced an exploratory research agreement with India-based Sea6 Energy to co-develop a process for the production of biofuels from seaweed.
The research alliance will use enzymes to convert seaweed-based carbohydrates to sugar, which can then be fermented to produce ethanol for fuel, fine chemicals, proteins for food, and fertilizers for plants. Novozymes will research, develop, and manufacture enzymes for the conversion process, while Sea6 Energy will contribute its offshore seaweed cultivation technology.
Algae-based fuels a growing business in New Mexico
Posted On: January 22, 2012Sapphire Energy Inc., which uses a proprietary process to turn algae oil into renewable gasoline to replace fossil fuels at the pump, broke ground last June on a 300-acre commercial demonstration facility in Columbus.
In Hobbs, in the heart of southeast New Mexico’s oil patch, Massachusetts-based Joule Unlimited Inc. broke ground this fall on a five-acre site that will use concentrating-solar biorefineries to extract ethanol and diesel from bacteria in salt-water mixed with carbon dioxide.
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.
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.
NZ Biotech company Photonz successfully transfers omega-3 fermentation process to industrial scale Canadian pilot plant
Posted On: November 27, 2011Biotech company Photonz Corporation has achieved a major milestone on the path to commercially manufacturing, by fermentation, the high-value omega-3 fatty acid, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). It has successfully transferred its strain and fermentation process, developed in Auckland, to a contract facility in Canada, which has then used that process to ferment material from algal biomass in a 7.5 tonne industrial scale reactor. This demonstrates the feasibility of commercial production of EPA from marine microalgae.
The Canadian facility has a battery of reactors and support utilities that enable it to operate multi-tonne scale fermentations under industrial conditions. During the project it produced sufficient biomass for Photonz to complete development of the downstream purification processes for its EPA product, also at pilot industrial scale.
Juneau Economic Development Council reports progress on marine-related business development plans
Posted On: November 27, 2011Champions of Juneau Economic Development Council’s 10 action initiatives for its ocean products working group reported progress and opportunities at a recent teleconference.
The Development Council was contracted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service to complete an economic development asset map and a strategic plan for southeast Alaska. “The map and plan would focus on actions to strengthen select industry sectors in the region, such as fishing, tourism and timber,” according to JEDC.
Previously, the Southeast Alaska Ocean Products Working Group identified their 10 action initiatives between Jan. and May of this year.
The group discusses ways to develop region-wide mariculture zoning, increase wild salmon production through habitat restoration, develop a sea otter management program in southeast Alaska, establish a marine industry technology and workforce improvement consortium, include the seafood industry in USDA programs, enhance salmon production, study the conversion of southeast Alaska fish byproduct to biogas and fertilizer through anaerobic digestion, further develop renewable energy, protect long term access to fishery resources and ensure southeast’s fishing future through targeted education and training in the acquisition and financing of fishing permits, quota and fishery businesses.
German-French Algal Biofuel Initiative Launches
Posted On: October 25, 2011A joint German-French algal photobioreactor plant, built by IGV GmbH in partnership with Bioalgostral SAS (BAO), has gone into operation on the French island of La Reunion. The event also marked the signing of the contract between the partners for the delivery and establishment of an industrial plant for the production of biofuels from microalgae with a total volume of 82,000 L in 2012.
IGV GmbH, based in Nuthetal, Brandenburg, Germany, is an independent private research institution closely associated with industry, biotechnology and food processing, with 30 years of experience and development in the cultivation of microalgae, the design and construction of photobioreactors, and product developments from microalgae biomass. Bioalgostral, with headquarters in St. Clotilde, La Reunion, France, is a start-up company established in 2008 dedicated to the industrial production of biofuels from microalgae.
IGV and BAO have been working intensively together since 2010 within the framework of a co-operation agreement. The aim of the co-operation is the implementation and development of new technologies for the mass production of microalgae and the generation of bioenergy from microalgae biomass for specific projects on La Reunion. The island’s tropical climatic conditions offer excellent potential for algal growth and development, according to the two companies.
AlgaeTek Begins Development of Algae Facility in Texas
Posted On: October 6, 2011oca Raton, FL-based Atlas Capital Holdings Inc. has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, AlgaeTek Systems, Inc, has commenced development of its new high grade algae production facility located in Woodlands, TX.
“The facility is on track to be in production in the next six weeks,” said Christopher Davies, CEO of Atlas Capital Holdings. “We believe we will be able to harvest high-grade algae that will sell for an estimated $2,000 to $7,000 per pound. After its first year of generating revenue we will utilize our experience and expertise to develop another facility on a much larger scale.”
BARD Opens Algae Production Facility in Georgia
Posted On: October 6, 2011Bard Holding Inc., a U.S. based algae production company, has announced the opening of its Calhoun, Georgia facility, the first of multiple manufacturing sites the company plans to operate in Georgia.
According to Dr. Rajesh Patel, a successful practicing physician in the Atlanta metro region who partnered with BARD Holding on the expansion of algae production facilities throughout the state of Georgia, “We are proud to contribute to the region by helping revitalize the community’s industrial space and enhance Georgia’s economic productivity.”









