U.S. based largest organic seaweed farm, Springtide Seaweed is partnering with College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor to create and operate a saltwater research and production facility on the school’s campus.   The company will use the new saltwater lab to isolate and culture seed stock for a host of North Atlantic seaweed farms, experiment with local […]

Canadian-owned seaweed company Arramara intends to resubmit applications to harvest seaweed on the Irish west coast, following a Government ruling protecting “traditional” rights. The company, which was bought from the State by Canadian multinational Acadian Seaplants for an undisclosed sum in 2014, said it could take well over a year for the revised applications to be lodged. […]

Mechanical harvesting of sub-tidal seaweed was set to begin in Bantry Bay. Operations by BioAtlantis Aquamarine Ltd, using the Atlantis Explorer (Callsugn EIPQ2) are expected to continue for the duration of the licence until 2024. Harvesting will take place in Areas A, B, C, D and E of the licence area. Source  

The Energy Department will invest a total of $78 million to fund early-stage bioenergy research and development projects. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said in a statement  that DOE seeks to improve the conversion of algae, energy crops and various waste streams into biofuels, biopower and bioproducts through the four new funding opportunities. DOE will award up to $28 million under the BioEnergy Engineering […]

Reducing carbon emissions in order to prevent climate change requires developing new technologies for sustainable and renewable biofuel production. Molecular hydrogen is regarded as one of the most promising energy carriers due to its high energy density and clean, carbon-free use. A research group from the University of Turku, Finland, has discovered an efficient way […]

OriginClear Inc. and AlgEternal Technologies, a vertically-integrated producer of non-fuel high value products from microalgae, recently announced a formal licensing partnership, capping five years of continuous operation of OriginClear’s first-generation Smart Algae Harvester™ at AlgEternal’s LaGrange, Texas headquarters. Following exhaustive testing, AlgEternal first selected OriginClear’s EWS technology in 2013. In 2015, AlgEternal found that by using OriginClear’s technology […]

The health benefits of Spirulina algae are widely known, but normally the superfood has to be purchased in powdered form. A new device has been created by Bentur in the form of the world’s first fully-automated system called Spirugrow.  The Spirugrow growing system has this week launched via Kickstarter and is now available to back with early […]

Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc. and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources have launched a seaweed farming project to benefit villagers in Subic, Zambales. A memorandum of understanding was recently signed here by RP Energy, BFAR Region 3, Subic Bay Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Fisherfolk Association (SBIFARMFA), and the Farm Capital Corporation. Based on […]

The Algae Biomass Organization (ABO), the trade association for the algae industry, applauded the introduction of the Algae Agriculture Act of 2018, a bill that would give algae cultivators and harvesters many of the same advantages as other traditional crops in United States agricultural policy. The bill was introduced by Congressman Scott Peters (CA-52) and sponsored by […]

ZIVO Bioscience, Inc. , a biotech/agtech R&D company engaged in the commercialization of nutritional and medicinal products derived from proprietary algal strains, has announced the execution of a letter of intent to produce its proprietary algae strain at Tianjin Norland Biotech (Norland) facilities in China. Norland is one of the largest producers of algae in China, […]

Oman has a great potential to provide algae for synthesis of biofuel, observers in the field of biology have stated. The Sultanate, with its wadis and seas, is an excellent source of algae that can be cultivated for lipids or fats from which biofuel can then be derived. Mohamed Gomaa, a PhD student from the […]

Biodiesel technology and engineering firm BDI-BioEnergy International AG officially broke ground Jan. 26 on its new algae biomass production plant at Hartberg Ecopark in the Austrian state of Styria. The company has been researching algae production for years and developed its proprietary algae reactor system under its wholly owned subsidiary, BDI-BioLife Science GmbH, which will […]

Researchers at the University of Twente, the Netherlands, have developed a new device for the capture of atmospheric carbon dioxide to stimulate the growth of algae, an important bio-commodity. The technology can also be used to store solar and wind energy. The device, which is designed for microalgae production, can capture 500 grams of CO₂ daily, or […]

The European Space Agency (ESA) announced a novel experimental project to cultivate oxygen with microalgae in spacecraft and avoid the need to transport it from Earth. According to a statement, researchers from the Artemiss pilot project will analyze how photosynthesis takes place in space. It is the process by which organisms convert light into energy, […]

Robert Gardner, a professor of bioproducts and biosystems engineering at the University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center, hopes to capture and recycle the nutrients in runoff water and produce an environmentally friendly microalgae-based biofertilizer. Gardner’s research funded in part by a MnDRIVE Environment seed grant could reduce demand for synthetic fertilizer while […]

Argentinian food-additive maker Laboratorios Farmesa SAIC  plans to put up a seaweed processing plant in the country. The manufacturing operation will be the first of the Argentinian company outside of its home country and will include a sourcing component. Their expansion plans can bring them closer to both the source of their main ingredient seaweeds, as […]

Saudi Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Eng. Abdul Rahaman Bin Abdel Mohsen Al Fadli, launched the “Research and Development on Algae Production Techniques in KSA” project. Al Fadli signed Joint Cooperation Agreement with several governmental institutions and private sector to implement and support the project. The under secretariat for Agriculture at the Ministry, Eng. […]

For the last 10 years, scientists all over the world have been racing to figure out how to convert massive quantities of seaweed into biofuel. UConn Professor Charles Yarish is one of them.  The grant from the Department of Energy is $5.7 million, and will go to Yarish and colleagues at the University of Connecticut and […]

Scientists have devised a method that could lead to cheap, environmentally friendly ways of making products for use in the cosmetics, plastics and food industries. Algae are highly prized for their ability to make useful products, but a lack of engineering tools has hindered basic research and growth of the industry for decades, researchers say. Scientists […]

Presented at the annual Chart Art Fair in Copenhagen, Space10’s Algae Dome comprised a four-metre-high wooden structure wrapped in 320 metres of coiled transparent plastic tubing flowing with green microalgae. The tubing created a semi-enclosed space for visitors to sit inside, while also acting as a photo-bioreactor to produce high quantities of microalgae via photosynthesis. With Algae […]

Miguel Arias Cañete, the European Union Commissioner for Energy and Climate Action, has inaugurated the new phase in the All-Gas project in the El Torno treatment plant in Chiclana, Cadiz. Co-financed by the European Commission with the Seventh Framework Programme, the All-Gas Project aims to demonstrate the large scale production of biofuels and biogas based […]

A new project on the production of spirulina from geothermal hot springs in Turkey, was officially opened in Yalova, Turkey. The “Water and spirulina (Microalgae) Production from Different Geothermal Waters” project has been sponsored by Yalova University Armutlu Vocational School and supported by General Directorate of Agricultural Researches and Politicals (TAGEM) of Ministry of Food, Agriculture. […]

A cycle of boon and bane is bringing down the price of dried seaweed. The low buying price is caused by production fluctuation from late 2015 until early 2017.  At the same time, unstable supply and price have weakened the quality of cultivated seaweed varieties. Production and prices are also vulnerable to changing weather patterns. Seaweed production […]

On the heels of a successful development of algae photobioreactor (APB) technology and carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration study with Michigan State University, PHYCO2—an algae growth and carbon dioxide sequestration company—will collaborate with MSU under a $1 million U.S. DOE grant to develop technologies that seek to transform the efficiency and operating costs to reduce power […]

North Korea has decided to invest in algal life, and is hoping to harness the organism and use it as a “strategic resource”. Sources believe the country has ventured into the area in the interests of national security. The researchers at Johns Hopkins believe that North Korea hopes the algae industry could soon “mitigate the […]