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Universities of Georgia and Puerto Rico Researchers Unite for Algae Biofuels Project

Researchers at the University of Georgia (UGA) and University of Puerto Rico have come together to launch a renewable energy center to grow algae for biofuels. The center will be located in Rio Piedras, San Juan, Puerto Rico and it aims at reducing the dependence of U.S on fossil fuels. US Department of Defense is [...]

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[ More ] December 20th, 2011 | No Comments | Posted in Algae-Biodiesel, Algae-Cultivation-Biofuel, Algae-Fuel-Research |

Sapphire Energy Installs Custom-made Software for Biofuels Research

Sapphire Energy, US-based algae fuel company has installed a custom-made software in its research center in San Diego, from CLC bio, a bioinformatics sequence analysis software provider. According to Dr Christopher Yohn, Sapphire Energy’s principal scientist, the company is in need of bioinformatics tools for their development needs. He also added that the software will [...]

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[ More ] December 17th, 2011 | No Comments | Posted in algae biodiesel USA, Algae-Energy-Companies, Algae-Fuel-Research |

OriginOil in a Joint Venture with Australian Partner

OriginOil has entered into a joint venture with an Australian company for the development of biorefinery. These biorefineries are expected to meet the US and NATO military requirements for alternative fuels. According to OriginOil, the JV aims to build biorefineries in strategic locations around the world that would serve military customers. The JV, called Future [...]

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[ More ] December 16th, 2011 | No Comments | Posted in Algae, Algae-Energy-Companies, Algae-Energy-Investments |

Australian Project Capturing CO2 with Algae

Australia’s first CO2 emission reduction project using algae is being implemented at Tarong Power Station. The Queensland Government has allotted $ 1 million for the first phase of the project, which is on track at the South Burnett power station after successful trials conducted at James Cook University. The project uses algae to capture the [...]

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[ More ] December 15th, 2011 | No Comments | Posted in Algae, Algae-Carbon-Capture, Algae-CO2-Capture, Algae-Energy-Companies, Algae-Flue gas-CO2-Sequestration |

IATA’s Call for More Production and Use of Biofuels

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is pushing for more production and use of sustainable biofuels. Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director-General and Chief Executive Officer opines that sustainable biofuels are important in achieving the climate change targets and some airlines are already trying them in commercial flights. Virgin Galactic was the first airline to fly with [...]

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[ More ] December 14th, 2011 | No Comments | Posted in Algae, Algae-Aviation-Fuel, Algae-Fuel-Research |

OriginOil to Set Standards for Algal Biomass

OriginOil, one of the prominent algae fuel companies, will work with DOE’s Office of Biomass Programs to create standards for algal biomass. The company has entered into a new research agreement with the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Under the agreement, OriginOil and INL will work together for establishing industry standards for algal [...]

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[ More ] December 13th, 2011 | No Comments | Posted in Algae, algae biodiesel USA, bio diesel-companies |

Maersk and the Navy Join Hands for Biofuels Testing

Another interesting news on the series of the Navy’s biofuel initiatives! Maersk, one of the largest shipping companies in the world, and the US Navy have come together to test algae biofuel on the container ship Maersk Kalmar. The ship is en route from Northern Europe to India. The biofuels test is the first collaboration [...]

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[ More ] December 13th, 2011 | No Comments | Posted in Algae, algae biodiesel USA |

LED Horticultural Lighting Used in Algae Farm

Algae Farm, a company which produces algae through indoor cultivation for the nutraceutical, cosmetic and renewable energy market sectors, is implementing the LED based horticultural lighting at its facility based on the Houston Advanced Research Center campus in The Woodlands, Texas. LumiGrow, Inc., based out of USA, is said to provide the LED product. The LumiGrow [...]

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[ More ] December 12th, 2011 | 2 Comments | Posted in Algae-Cultivation |

Navy Vehicle Achieves the Fastest Speed with Algae Fuels

US Navy’s final alternative fuel demonstration for this year is a great success with the algae-derived, hydro-processed algal oil and petroleum F-76 blend in a landing craft air cushion (LCAC) transport vehicle. The test also marked the fastest speed achieved to date by a U.S. Navy surface craft using alternative fuel blends, as LCAC 91 [...]

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[ More ] December 12th, 2011 | No Comments | Posted in algae biodiesel USA |

Aurora Algae’s Genetic Optimization of Nannochloropsis

Aurora Algae, a company which produces algae based products, has developed a new technique ‘Homologous recombination’ for genetic optimization to create advanced-trait algae strains for their product development in the pharmaceutical, nutrition, renewable energy and animal feed markets. The technique enables rapid development of optimized strains while retaining the organism’s natural genetic purity and is [...]

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[ More ] December 8th, 2011 | No Comments | Posted in Algae-Oil-Companies, Algae-Strains |

US Navy to Buy 100,000 Gallons of Algae Oil from Solazyme

Algal Biomass Organisation (ABO), a non-profit organization which promotes the development of algae market, has recently released a statement stating that the US Navy has planned to purchase 450,000 gallons of drop-in biofuels, with 100,000 of those made from algal oils produced by ABO member Solazyme, Inc. Mary Rosenthal, executive director of the ABO strongly [...]

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[ More ] December 7th, 2011 | No Comments | Posted in Algae-Oil-Companies, Uncategorized |

Sapphire Energy’s Chloroplast Genome Research Published in Oxford Journals

Sapphire energy’s peer reviewed research paper on the chloroplast genome of green algae has been published recently in the Oxford Journals. Chloroplast genomes play a vital role in synthetic biology by encoding the most important genes of photosynthesis. This paper describes the methodology for cloning and modifying the chloroplast genome from the green alga, Chlamydomonas [...]

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[ More ] December 6th, 2011 | No Comments | Posted in Algae-Fuel-Research, Algae-Oil-Companies |

Algae.Tec to Build its First Biofuel Production Plant

Algae.Tec , which recently shipped its first photo bioreactors to Australia,  has now entered into a agreement with Holcim Lanka Limited, a cement manufacturing firm. The biofuels company in collaboration with Holcim intends to build its first algae biofuels production facility in Asia,  which will reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the cement manufacturing plant. This [...]

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[ More ] December 5th, 2011 | No Comments | Posted in Algae-Carbon-Capture |

Heliae to Develop Process for Algae to Fuel and Food

Heliae, a technology-development company based in Gilbert, is developing an industrial process for the creation of high-fat strains of algae to produce ready-to-use jet fuel and other commercial products. The company is aiming to develop an integrated process to grow, harvest and refine algae products on an industrial scale. According to Craig Johnson, Heliae’s Chief [...]

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[ More ] December 1st, 2011 | 1 Comment | Posted in Algae-Energy-Companies |

US Navy to Go Green Soon

As a part of the Navy’s Green Fleet Initiative, which aims on running the entire fleet on alternative fuels by 2016, the largest ever algae fuel test has been conducted. The navy has tested 20,000 gallons of algae fuels on a decommissioned destroyer in the NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center San Diego. The test was conducted [...]

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[ More ] December 1st, 2011 | No Comments | Posted in algae biodiesel USA |

Algae.Tec’s First Commercial Photobioreactor Shipped to Australia

Algae.Tec (http://algaetec.com.au/about/) is an advanced biofuels company focused on commercializing technology that produces algae to manufacture sustainable fuels such as bio diesel and green jet fuel. The photo-bioreactor module  desgined by the engineering divison of Algae.Tec has been shipped from their Algae Development and Manufacturing Centre in Atlanta, an has been shipped to the Australia. [...]

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[ More ] November 28th, 2011 | No Comments | Posted in Algae, Algae-Photobioreactor |

Algae.Tec’s Photobioreactors Headed for Australia

Algae.Tec has successfully shipped its first Photobioreactor from its Algae Development and Manufacturing Center  in Georgia, USA to Nowra, Australia. The photobioreactors would capture carbon dioxide waste from power stations and feed it to the algae system. The company plans to continue production till the mid of 2012 and aims to ship about four more [...]

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[ More ] November 25th, 2011 | 1 Comment | Posted in Algae, Algae-Photobioreactor |

Boosting Algae Biomass Productivity by Algae Engineering

Genetic engineering research at the Iowa State University reveals that the algae biomass can be boosted by 50-80% by expressing or activating genes that promote photosynthesis. The researchers have worked on two genes – LCIA and LCIB — which  when expressed capture more CO2  increase the biomass productivity. However, when algae live in an environment with enough [...]

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[ More ] November 24th, 2011 | No Comments | Posted in Algae, Algae-Fuel-Research |

5th International Algae Congress

Following the success of the previous four international algae congresses, the organisers are pleased to announce the fifth International Algae Congress. The 5th International Algae Congress will be taking place in the Radisson BLU hotel in Berlin, Germany on 1 & 2 December 2011. It is organised by the European Society of Microalgal Biotechnology (ESMB), the German DLG e.V. (German Agricultural [...]

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[ More ] November 22nd, 2011 | No Comments | Posted in Algae, Algae-Energy-Events |

Dunaliella salina as a Model for Abiotic Stress Tolerance

I recently came across this recent review paper by Ramos et al., on using Dunaliella salina as a model for abiotic stress tolerance and thought it would be an interesting read for all. The paper elaborates on isoprenoid and carotenoid biosynthesis regulation in addition to various genetic transformation procedures that would, in future, help this [...]

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[ More ] November 22nd, 2011 | No Comments | Posted in Algae, Algae-Strains |

Algae Appliance – Origin Oil’s Latest Invention

A new algae harvesting system called Algae Appliance by OriginOil Inc. This appliance would process at a low cost in addition to minimal use of chemicals. OriginOil has slated 2012 for the commercial release of Algae Appliance. The system is slated to remove up to 90% of the initial water volume. The system is designed [...]

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[ More ] November 21st, 2011 | No Comments | Posted in Algae, Algae Oil Extraction, Algae-Fuel, Algae-Harvesting |

What Craig Venter Has to Say About Algae Biofuels

While attending the “What Will Turn Us On In 2030?”, Craig Venter mentioned that he hopes to harvest algae to use it for everyday needs with the help of genetic engineering. Venter’s interest in algae grew after his mission to actualize synthetic biology. He realized that most of the genes he had collected were from [...]

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[ More ] November 21st, 2011 | No Comments | Posted in Algae, Algae-Fuel |

Algae Engineering Kits for Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Synechococcus elongatus

Traditionally, algae researchers have relied on cells, cloning tools and vectors that were inferior and could easily get contaminated resulting in low survival rates. An US based company- Life Technologies has now introduced genetic engineering kits, called Gene Art for two potent strains – Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (potent strain for hydrogen production) and Synchococcus elongatus ( [...]

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[ More ] November 19th, 2011 | No Comments | Posted in Algae, Algae- Photosynthesis |

WWCC and Flinders University into Algae Genetic Engineering Research

World Wide Carbon Credits Limited (WWCC), a hong-kong based private equity investor,  in collaboration with a team at Australia’s Flinders University have successfully found the gene in algae responsible for the production of high chain hydrocarbons.In August 2011, WWCC patented the new algae’s genetic sequence in the US and Australia and are currently in the process [...]

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[ More ] November 18th, 2011 | No Comments | Posted in Algae- Photosynthesis, Uncategorized |

First US Commercial Algae-Fuel Powered Flight

The first US commercial flight by biofuels derived from algae  (Solajet)  has flown from Houston’s IAH airport to Chicago’s O’Hare airport. Solajet,( 40% algae-derived jet fuel) manufactured by Solazyme,complies with the ASTM D7566 specification for ‘synthetic paraffinic kerosene from hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids. (approved in July 2011) Solazyme claims that that they produce  500,000 tonnes [...]

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[ More ] November 15th, 2011 | No Comments | Posted in algae biodiesel USA, Algae-Aviation-Fuel |

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