Leaders of the various sectors of biomass industry gathered to discuss the future of algae, biomass thermal, biomass power, biogas, biofuels and biochemicals industries at the International Biomass Conference & Expo. The bottomline of the whole discussion sessions was that federal support has to be pulled up to favor a positive growth of biomass […]

　 Cellana LLC, a Hawaii based developer of algae-based biofuels and bioproducts is all set to ramp up commercial scale production of algae biofuels. their commercial scale algae facitlity would be the first of its kind in the U.S With over $100 million investment for developing algal strains and production technology, the company has now […]

National Algae Association – Networking Conference May 19, 2011 Venue: BARD HOLDING Inc., Pennsylvania National Algae Association (NAA) has announced that their next conference for the Collaborations, Strategic Alliances and Networking of algae biofuels industry, will be held on May 19 at the backyard of algae cultivators BARD Holding Inc., Pennsylvania.The event will focus on […]

Intel Corporation recently became the first technology company to obtain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for its Ocotillo campus in Arizona. In addition to meeting the green building requirements for LEED, Intel has been doing many innovations towards sustainability approach. As a part of innovations, […]

Researchers at the Arizona Center for Algal Technology and Innovation (AzCATI) are developing an empirical model for assessment and prediction of potential impact of contaminations on overall algal culture stability and biomass production potential. They are developing a rapid, sensitive monitoring and an early warning system with the help of state-of-the-art bio-imaging and DNA fingerprinting […]

World Health Energy Holdings, Inc., a public holding company operating in the alternative energy sector, is setting up a 250 acre commercial algae biodiesel farm with a $100 million budget in Karnataka, India. The algae farm will produce Fish Feed and Algal Oil. The first phase will be initiated soon in a 2.5 acre system […]

New Mexico State University is expanding its capacity to accomplish algal biofuel research with the recent installation of a new photobioreactor system from Solix BioSystems. The system promises to accelerate the university’s emergence as a leader in this niche research domain. The New Mexico State University team will cultivate algae with the high-performance AGS4000 PBR […]

Algae-to-biofuel company BARD Holding Inc. will join hands with Algae Bioenergy Solutions LLC to upstage a new joint venture to develop an algae production facility in Georgia. BARD, will play the technical hand in running the facility with Algae Bioenergy Solutions LLC. The new company will be called BARD-ABS. The venture will use Bard’s proprietary […]

Algae..! They are the sturdiest species when you want to get rid of them and the weakest species when you try to mass culture it for producing biofuels. Of many culprit organisms that may result in the deterioration of algal culture and biomass yield, grazing zooplankton or predators, often are responsible for frequent culture ‘crashes’ […]

Algal Biomass Organization (ABO), the trade association for the algae industry, has announced that the 5th annual Algae Biomass Summit will be held October 25-27, 2011 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. With leading algae-focused programs at research institutions and the growing deployment of algae-based technologies across the Midwestern United States, Minnesota becomes the automatic choice for the […]

Though algae has emerged out of nowhere to become the most promising of all biofuel feedstocks, it really hasn’t given the reassurance to the world that it would be the perfect solution to the energy puzzle.  To some it might be a bit surprising that the commercial efforts for algal biofuels have been few and […]

  The energy products from algae are always under expansion. Biodiesel, Ethanol, Hydrogen, Methane, Syngas and the list extends to Butanol … The University of Arkansas is working on a project converting algae — with low levels of lipids, but high levels of sugars — into butanol, which could be used in automobiles. The project […]

BioProcess Algae LLC’s commercial-scale bioreactor project had a grand opening in Shenandoah, Iowa on the 15th of April. Located at Green Plains Renewable Energy Inc.’s 65 MMgy ethanol plant, the project was opened by the Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. The commercial scale bioreactors, which began operating in February, is to demonstrate the value of […]

Light harvesting complex (LHC) proteins function in photosynthesis by binding chlorophyll (Chl) and carotenoid molecules that absorb light and transfer the energy to the reaction center Chl of the photosystem. There has been extensive research works on the LHCs of plants and chlorophytes that bind Chl a and b. Diverse biochemical functions, expression patterns and […]

Third Annual Algae World Summit will be held at San Diego on May 23-25, 2011. The  Algae World Summit will unite key players across the value chain with algae developers, vendors, scientists, investors, distributors and end-users sharing the most cutting edge breakthroughs in algae production for fuels, chemicals, food and animal feed, and pharmaceuticals. Representatives […]

When we think about biorefining and biofuel production, the two types of raw materials that strikes our mind are carbohydrates and lipids. Biofuels like ethanol are derived from carbohydrate raw materials such as sugars and lignocellulose, while biodiesel is derived from lipids. Proteins had been completely ignored as a potential biomaterial because they’ve been thought […]

A few years ago when Algae captured global attention for having the potency to become the much anticipated ‘sustainable biofuel feedstock’, there was a sigh of relief as it was thought that the burden of alternative energy is mitigated. However, the progress on biofuel front is moving quite slowly than expected. Algae do not produce […]

Auckland-based Photonz, which won a $2.9 million TechNZ research and development grant for its prototype industrial fermentation plant, is ramping up production of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) omega 3 fatty acid. Currently EPA is sourced from fish oil and Photonz claims its technology offers a more secure supply for the US$60 billion cardiovascular disease market. The […]

Algae have captured global attention for its biofuel prospects, carbon sequestration capabilities and bioremediation potentials. While it has diverse roles to play in the world of clean technology, a synergistic approach to couple more than one application is less practised. While, CO2 capture and biofuel production has been demonstrated in commercial scale with reasonable success, […]

The Japanese nuclear disaster was an ill omen to many but not necessarily for the world of alternative energy. The disaster indeed has re-awoken the world to the possibilities of alternative energy. While natural gas (Liquefied Natural Gas) would receive an immediate boost, it is obvious that the green technologies would also re-emerge as favourites. […]

United States of America’s President Obama recently announced an ambitious yet achievable target of reducing oil imports by one third by 2025. Meeting this goal would obviously require consistent increase of locally sourced biofuels. Over the years, the term biofuel always meant fuel ethanol for the American continent. It is only recently that they realised […]

As we all know, algae is emerging as a very attractive biofuel feedstock in recent years. However, it is yet to hold the promise of being the sustainable alternative the whole world is in search of. In one of the previous blog posts, I had mentioned that the issue of sustainability has to be handled […]

Policy makers and government officials have been lending a descent enough support for promoting clean technology at global level, by feeding the industry with incentives, subsidies, and tax credits. Renewable energy policies and mandates are getting reworked on regular basis. However, the conventional fossil fuels are silently being tamed in the back yard with many […]

A new research has demonstrated that adding more species of beneficial algae to a freshwater stream, linearly increases the ecosystem’s ability to clean pollutants – Nitrates. Nitrate is known to be the culprit behind the hypoxic “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico, outbreaks of toxic algae and red tides. Nitrate being one of the […]

Algal Biomass Organization, the trade association for the U.S. algae industry, presented its first annual Algae Industry Leadership Awards to four people in an effort to recognise and honour their critical support in accelerating the industry’s growth, facilitating private investment and reducing major barriers to the commercialization of algae-based biofuels. Brian Bilbray (Representative – CA) […]