During the National Biodiesel Board Conference (NBB) last week, I had the opportunity to hang out with some “Next Generation Scientists for Biodiesel“. There were 10 in attendance at this year’s conference and the two that I spent time with were Evan Le, a senior studying mechanical engineering at the University of Nevada and Lucas Ellis, in a graduate Biochemical …
Solar Acquisition Corp., GNE Ink Algae-Biodiesel Deal
Solar Acquisition Corp. and Global Natural Energy Cyprus Ltd have signed a deal to form joint venture, GNE USA, that will produce algae-based biodiesel. This press release says the agreement should be finalized in the next two months: “GNE-USA will come out of the gate with a strong competitive advantage in its exclusive right to the GNE patented technology,” said …
Alltech Conference: Future of Algae-Biodiesel & More
Animal nutrition company Alltech will be holding its first annual International Algae Conference, February 22-24, 2011 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Lexington, Kentucky: [E]ntitled Algae: The Growth Platform, [the conference] will be dedicated to discussing the technological revolution of algae fermentation, including biodiesel, bioremediation, carbon sequestration, and application to both novel pharmaceutical products and animal nutrition. The conference will …
Elixir Bio-Tech Wins Award
A New Mexico Algae Biotech company, Elixir Bio-Tech Inc. (EBT), has been named one of the top 50 winners of the FundingPost’s 7th annual “Pitching Across America” competition. EBT is attempting to demonstrate accelerated approaches in producing algal biofuels with its Algae Biomass Feedstock project and has a patent pending on its Open and Closed Algae Biomass Systems. FundingPost is …
Loan Supports Separation-of-Oil-from-Algae Process
A $1.5 million loan will help an algae company buy the equipment to build its system of separating the water from the green microbes. And that could be key in the algae-to-biodiesel process. Biodiesel Magazine reports that Algaeventure Systems Inc. has picked up the money from the Ohio development department’s R&D investment loan fund to support the purchase of machinery …
Algae Harvesting No Problem for Kent Bioenergy
One potential hurdle to the commercialization of algal fuels are how to harvest the algae. But one company believes that they already have this challenge figured out. Kent Bioenergy has been harvesting algae for years, as part of their aquaculture business that dates back the the 1970s. The original company needed to learn how to clean the water used for …
OriginOil Moves Forward in Algae-to-Biodiesel Test
Last month, I told you about how algae-to-biodiesel developer OriginOil, Inc. had decided to go to Australia to test its algae oil extraction process with partner MBD Energy. Today, I received an update from OriginOil that it has received the first commercial order to deploy its algae oil extraction system in an industrial setting: MBD Energy (MBD) recently committed to …
RAND Says Alt Fuels Out, Coal & Biomass In, for Military
RAND National Defense Research Institute has released a study today amidst a firestorm of criticism with many claiming that the report sounds like an advertisement for the coal industry. The study, commissioned by the Department of Defense, was to conduct an examination of alternative fuels for military applications. For the past several years, the military has been testing alternative fuels, …
OriginOil CEO: 2011 Year of Algae Bio-based Chemicals
This year will be the year of bio-based chemicals made from algae … that according to the CEO of OriginOil, algae-to-biofuel maker. Riggs Eckelberry made the prediction on MoneyTV, an internationally-syndicated weekly business television program. “2011 is the year of biochemicals made from algae.” OriginOil on MoneyTV, 6 Jan 2011 from OriginOil on Vimeo. Eckelberry says some major players in …
CAFOs Could Commercialize Algae Biofuels
Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) could be the key for algae-to-biofuel operations becoming commercial-scale… that according to Thomas Byrne, president and CEO of Byrne & Company LLP, a renewable energy project developer. This article from Biorefining Magazine says the potential is greatest in northern climates, where anaerobic digesters that use microbes to break down the organic forms of nitrogen and …