A 17-year-old high school student from Colorado, received top honors and a $100,000 prize for pioneering a technique to dramatically boost oil yields from algae, a crucial step in the economically viable production of biofuel from the plants, at the Intel Science Fair Contest held last week. Sara Volz, identified as the winner, uses a […]

Global Algae Biodiesel World 2013 Organizer: Center for Jatropha Promotion, India. Date: Oct. 25-26, 2013 Location: Jaipur , India Topics include: Algae Biodiesel: Commercialization, Research & Business Platform Potential, Promise and Problems of microalgae for liquid transportation fuels MAIN THEMES 1. Commercializing Algae Biodiesel: Prospects and Priorities 2. Algae Growing, Harvesting and Extraction Technologies 3. […]

Amidst ongoing research efforts to increase the oil content of algae, a team at the Michigan State Univeristy is inserting the algae oil gene to engineer a plant that stores lipids or vegetable oil in its leaves. Using the gene, the team has successfully engineered Arabidopsis thaliana, a plant with oily leaves. The algae oil […]

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) and World Wide Carbon Credits Australia (WWCC) enter into a multi-million dollar partnership for the development of a project focused on the commercial scalability of algae-based biofuels. This major project is headed by RMIT’s Environmental Microbiology professor Andy Ball. Prof Ball is keen on using algae as an alternative […]

Genesis Biofuel Inc. a designer and builder of carbon sequester and algal biodiesel refineries, recently announced the signing of an MoU with Abundant Energy Solutions (AES), an affiliate of the Colorado Energy Research Technologies (CERT), for the forming of a joint venture to engineer and construct Algal Biofuel Refineries. According to Harvey A Dorren, president and […]

Six students get Young Algae Researcher Award for their contribution to algae biology and engineering research. The awards were presented at the world’s largest gathering of algae industry professionals and academicians, to recognize the exceptional research projects carried out by budding researchers, who discover innovative methods of producing fuel and other products from algae. Researchers […]

Another feather in Solazyme’s cap! The company’s microbially derived renewable diesel fuel SoladieselRD, has been granted registration by the US-EPA. This registration enables SoladieselRD to be sold commercially either in blended and unblended (R100) forms. Let the Good Fat from Omega-3 Neutralize Your Bad Fat-Know more Solazyme claims that SoladieselRD is the first 100% microbially derived […]

After a considerable interval time there’s an interesting news from Synthetic Genomics! In a recent Press Release synthetic biology expert Craig Venter’s company Synthetic Genomics Inc. (SGI) has announced that the company has  purchased 81 acre site for scale up and testing of newly identified and engineered algal strains. The newly purchased site is located in […]

The Navy’s “Great Green Fleet” has decided to continue the use of algae-based biofuels blend in its warships. The fleet of warships fueled by alternative fuels is expected to be deployed by 2016. In another ten years, the Navy will dramatically reduce the use of fossil fuels in its vehicles. For this the Navy will […]

South Dakota-based algae fuel start-up Aquatic BioEnergy, which is using sea weeds for ethanol production, has raised $800,000 in private equity. The company uses sewer water or CO2 stripped from a power stack to feed the algae. Two years of lab analysis have led to the company’s current pilot facility in Sioux Falls,which employs 45,000 gallons of tank space […]

OriginOil has filed two patents with the US PTO for its recently developed technology for cleaning up oil and gas field wastewater. The company hopes that its unique technology will find immediate application in oil and gas field wastewater cleanup  and in the long run, it will find a great market potential in industrial wastewater and […]

David Truilo is just 12 years old. But his concern towards sustainability and environmental protection is appreciable. And that concern has brought him to the first place at the State Science Engineering Fair that took place in Florida. If you know what fetched him the award, you will be surprised. Yes! the kid’s project was […]

Algae fuel company Heliae has begun construction at the 20 acres demonstration facility adjacent to Heliae’s Gilbert, Arizona headquarters. The construction is expected to go for 18 months. This facility will showcase the scalability and economics of Heliae’s algae technology platform. According to Frank Mars, the company’s co-founder and chairman, this advancement from R & D […]

Researchers at the Tyndall Air Force Base see algae biofuels as a promising alternative energy feedstock, as they are working on a multi-million dollar project with the goal of reducing the reliance on foreign fossil fuel supplies. They started working on it three years back, and they are trying to figure out the ways of […]

Venkat Raman, Associate Professor at University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics has won the Moncrief Grand Challenge Faculty Award for his research on developing computer models for algae-based fuel production. Raman, along with another professor, who is working on improving coastal security, will receive up to $75,000 during the 2012-2013 academic year […]

Kengo Suzuki, who is the Head of R & D of the algae fuel start-up by the name Euglena, located in the premises of Tokyo University, is working on the microalgae Euglena, to check the possibility of using it as a  key source of fuel for powering jet planes in future. He has also made […]

Algae.Tec, one of the important players in the algae energy industry has announced the commencement of the commissioning of the showcase facility in Shoalhaven One, Australia. According to Roger Stroud, the company’s Executive Chairman, production of biomass will start in early June, as the commissioning process is on track and the facility will take carbon […]

OriginOil and Algasol Renewables, two major companies in the algae energy industry have entered into an agreement for developing an integrated algae growth and harvesting system. Algasol, which is already working with NASA and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories plans to bundle its offerings with OriginOil’s Algae Appliance, developed by the company wit the aim of reducing the […]

Oilprice.com, the online energy news site,whose analysis focuses on Oil and Gas, Alternative Energy and Geopolitics, as a part of its TOP 5 Series, has listed the 5 Most Influential Figures in U.S. Clean Energy. According to Oilprice.com, these 5 people are important in shaping and influencing U.S. renewable energy efforts. The main parameters on the basis […]

In a recent press release, algae giant Solazyme has announced that the company has entered into  into a contingent offtake agreement with Dow Chemicals in which Dow has agreed to purchase from Solazyme all of its requirements of non-vegetable microbe-based oils for use in dielectric fluid applications through 2015. Press Release: South San Francisco, Calif. – May 2, […]

Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Plc (RATCH), the largest independent power producer of Thailand is hoping to start commercial production of Spirulina using the carbon dioxide emitted from its power plant. The company has been doing research on this for the past two years ans has spent about 70 million baht for the testing phase. According […]

Carbon capture using algae may not be a new idea, but the idea of using algae to power street lights for cutting carbon emissions is certainly innovative. French biochemist Pierre Calleja has developed a street lighting network that operates on a battery that is charged during the day by microalgal photosynthesis aided by sunlight, while […]

French agricultural research organization the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) has launched a 160 million Euro collaborative platform, named “GreenStars”, for producing biofuels and high added value products using  microalgae feeding on nutrients contained in waste and CO2 emitted from industries. INRA has collaborated with 45 partners for this project and it hopes to be […]

The Federal Government of Nigeria has had discussions with top companies from Belgium and Israel for the possibility of undertaking algae biofuel project. Representatives from two companies, Actiview Solutions from Belgium and Univerve Ltd from Israel and top officials from the Nigerian government were a part of the discussion. The discussion was focused on making […]

Algal scrubbers may save Baltimore’s polluted harbor! US-based ecological restoration firm Biohabitats has set up an algal scrubber at the Fells Point in Baltimore harbor. The gutter, 350 feet long by one foot wide, uses native algae to strip nutrients, suspended sediment and carbon from water and inject oxygen into it before returning it to the harbor. The algae feed […]