Merrick & Company has signed with Genifuel Corporation to provide the design and commissioning of the hydrothermal processing pilot system for Reliance Industries. The system will process whole algae into biocrude, fuel gas and usable by-products, thereby doubling the yield of biofuels from algae and reducing the cost of production by 86%. The system uses […]

Scientists from Canada have conducted an experiment to increase the growth rate of microalgae in photobioreactors using plasmonic substrate. Modular photobioreactors were constructed with different reflective substrates including arrays of plasmonic nanodisks, broadband reflectors, and untreated glass. The results showed that the growth rate of microalgae increased greatly when grown in photobioreactors equipped with the […]

Algenol LLC has received a $25 million investment from BioFields for biofuel production from algae. This investment provides Algenol an opportunity to shift is concentration more towards commercialization. Algenol also plans to convert the left-over algal biomass into cellulosic diesel and jet fuel drop-ins. Source

International Sustainability Group, Inc., has created its new algae product line under the name AlgaeUPTM. AlgaeUPTM will be initially manufacturing three new products – AlgaeUP™ Energy Bar, AlgaeUP™ Energy Drink mix and AlgaeUP™ supplement capsules. All the three products have been made by using spirulina as the main ingredient along with other ingredients like vegetable […]

Scientists from China have developed a novel mixer to improve the performance of flat-plate photobioreactors. The effects of the mixer were theoretically evaluated using computational flow dynamics. The results showed maximum biomass concentration in the PBRs, thus proving that they highly applicable for high-efficiency cultivation of microalgae. Source

Two new bloom-forming algal species, Ulva paschima Bast, and Cladophora goensis Bast have been discovered off the west coast of India. The two species are endemic and have the ability to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reduce global warming. The main criteria used to discover these species is a mix of morphological as well as molecular […]

International Sustainability Group, Inc. an innovative green technology company has formed a subsidiary, ISG Health, to commercialize natural health products. This newly formed subsidiary will help ISG to enter the health and wellness market place. The nutraceutical products are being produced in ISG’s recently acquired nutraceutical manufacturing plants in Peru. Source

Scientists at PNNL have created a new process for the production of biocrude oil from algae in a few minutes. The process uses heat and pressure to change the algae to biocrude oil by chemical and physical reactions. The biocrude can later be converted to aviation fuel, gasoline and diesel by using conventional refining technology. […]

Researchers from Washington University have found a fast growing cyanobacterial strain called Synechococcus elongatus UTEX 2973 capable of competing with the growth of other contaminating strains and also eventually to synthesize large quantities of biofuels or other valuable products. The newly identified strain is also very useful for quick experimental work due to its rapid […]

Scientists from Japan and France have found a new microalgae Fistulifera solaris, as an emerging promising candidate for next-generation biofuel technology. The alga was first identified from the samples taken at the junction of two rivers in Japan. Scientists have elucidated the underpinnings of simultaneous growth and oil production by sequencing the genomes of Fistulifera solaris […]

The Algae Biomass Organization has announced that the ninth annual Algae Biomass Summit will be held in Washington DC from September 30 to October 2 at the Marriott Washington Wardman Park. ABO is now accepting abstracts and proposals for keynote speakers, panel presentations and poster sessions. The event will showcase technologies and algae derived products […]

Researchers from Western Washington University have exploited an unusual class of chemical compounds from algae to produce two different algae products simultaneously from single algae. They have found that alkenones which are fat compounds produced by the algal species Isochrysis has the potential to be used as a fuel source. Apart from producing biodiesel from the species, […]

OriginOil Inc. a developer of Electro Water Separation is collaborating with Idaho National Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy in a project to focus on the development and implementation of novel approaches to improve the efficiency in algal biofuels production. The two companies have jointly submitted a proposal titled “Targeted Algal Biofuels and Bioproducts (TABB)”which […]

Algenol and Reliance Industries have successfully launched India’s first Algenol algae production platform. The demonstration module is located near the world’s largest refinery, Reliance Jamnagar Refinery. The main aim of the project is to demonstrate the rapid growth of Algenol system in India and the ways in which integration of refinery operations is to be […]

Algae Industry Magazine had recently covered in great detail the growth and happening in the algae industry in 2014. This was an excellent three part blog posts. (For full details, read the blog posts from here – part 1, part 2 and part 3) I had the opportunity to read all these in detail, and […]

Researchers from Malaysia have produced a high grade biodiesel by using lipids derived from the microalgae Nannochloropsis oculata. The production was done via transesterification process with methanol and using calcium methoxide as a catalyst. The biodiesel produced by this method had a high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids as thus was suitable as a winter […]

A team of researchers from Taiwan synthesised core-shell Fe3O4@silica magnetic nanoparticles functionalized with a strong base, triazabicyclodecene (TBD) for harvesting and conversion of microalgae to biodiesel. Under optimal conditions, the biodiesel yield was upto 97.1%. In addition, these TBD-Fe3O4@silica nanoparticles were found to act as efficient algae harvester due to their adsorption and magnetic properties. […]

A team of researchers from Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), India, has isolated microalgae capable of producing biodiesel. The microalgae named Prymnesium parvum has high content phosphates and nitrates, and is found in the backwaters of Cochin. The Prymnesium parvum contains 26% of lipids, and can be grown in mass production systems without […]

Thousands of CO2 emitting power plants and industries are facing a major problem of reducing their CO2 emissions. The best solution for this problem is algae-based CO2 capture technology. This technology is dealt with in detail in Oilgae’s Comprehensive Guide for Algae-based CO2 Capture The report- focuses on carbon dioxide sequestration opportunities using algae and […]

Algae are one of the most useful organisms being used in diverse industries and applications. More than 15,000 individual compounds have been identified in microalgae which are believed to be responsible for producing numerous useful products. Several high-value microalgae products are already well established in the market place and there are clear opportunities for additional new […]

Solarvest gets its “System, Method and Device for the Expression or Repression of Proteins” patented by European Patent Office, and Korean Patent Office. The patent is of great importance in Solarvest’s portfolio as it includes many areas of bioactive expression of products such as proteins, antigens and antibiotic like molecules. The company also gets approval […]

Treatment or remediation of wastewater using algae is called phycoremediation. There are two different systems of algae-based wastewater treatment. They are Waste Stabilization Pond Systems (WSPs) and High Rate Algal Ponds (HRAP), both of which are secondary treatment methods. In the first type, wastewater treatment is achieved by mutualistic growth of microalgae and heterotrophic bacteria. […]

Algae represent the third generation feedstock for biodiesel with much higher yields than second generation crops. They can yield as much as 50T of biodiesel per hectare year when compared to 2 T from jatropha. Apart from biodiesel, algae can also be processed to yield other energy products such as ethanol, gasoline, aviation fuels, hydrogen […]

Researchers integrated the use of glycerol to produce ethanol in simultaneous production of biodiesel and bioethanol (Read More about Ethanol from Algae) production from algae. The process consists of growing of algae, determining the optimal fraction of oil vs. starch, followed by oil extraction, starch liquefaction and saccharification, to sugars, oil transesterification and the fermentation […]

Israel-based Qualitas Health, developer of algae-based food products, launches two new products based on its novel omega ingredient, Almega PL. The Almega PL is an omega oil rich in EPA with polar lipids containing essential fatty acids. The products shows improved bioavailability. Almega PL is competitive to other omega-3 products as it is completely based […]