November 30, 2011

The Secrets Of Algae Revealed

Algae may be the ultimate mop. Specifically, green algae Closterium moniliferum can isolate Strontium-90, a deadly isotope created by nuclear weapons and reactors. It therefore could potentially be used to clean contaminated land or water, or recycle nuclear fuel. Although the fact has been know for awhile, biologists have revealed in a recent study how the organisms actually do what they do.

In a release by Argonne National Laboratory today, the lead author and PhD candidate at Northwestern University Minna Krejci said that “the difficulty with cleaning up strontium-90 from the environment is that it’s so similar to calcium and barium that scientists even have trouble doing it in the laboratory, with sophisticated equipment.”

Also because of its similarity to calcium, the human skeleton absorbs it instead which can lead to leukemia or cancer.

Krejci, who has a joint appointment at Argonne and Northwestern, and her team found a “sulfate-trap” mechanism in the algae: The organisms control the amount of sulfate in its vacuole, a part of the cell, which in turn sequesters the strontium.

Scientist now need to determine whether the algae are durable and practical for commercial use.

Original article available here.

Algae fuel firms face moment of truth

Gilbert company turns algae into jet fuel and food

One of the most primitive forms of life on Earth may hold the promise of a high-tech solution to some of the globe's most vexing problems.

Heliae, a technology-development company based in Gilbert, is working to design an industrial process that starts with the creation of high-fat strains of algae and ends with the production of ready-to-use jet fuel and other commercial products.

"It's easy to do in the lab," said Heliae President and CEO Dan Simon. The trick, he said, is developing the integrated processes to grow, harvest and refine algae products on an industrial scale.

The company's business plan is to develop and license the technology that allows the sustainable, large-scale production of fuel, food and other biochemically valuable materials from algae, said Craig Johnson,Heliae's chief financial officer. Other than to test procedures and demonstrate processes, Heliae doesn't plan to market those commodities itself.

"We are trying to be the innovators and the inventors of a technology," Johnson said. "You can grow algae all day long but you have to make it efficiently to be profitable."

The lab holds all manner of paraphernalia needed to develop, analyze and test algae strains -- panels of bubbly, green liquids, centrifuges, shelves of chemicals, compound microscopes and jars of refined fuels made from algae oils that are ready to be analyzed.

The lab is essentially a demonstration facility, said Luis Acosta,Heliae's production manager.

"We go from Petri dish all the way to jet fuel on this site," he said.

Commercial-scale testing is done out back, behind the company's lab and office space.

Frank Mars, whose great-great-grandfather founded the Mars candy company, is the co-founder of Heliae and serves on the board of directors.

Although he also serves on the Mars company's board of directors and runs the Mars Symbiosciences division, he said his investments in Heliae are a private matter, not associated with the company.

Mars said his interest in sustainable agriculture and energy stems from his being a member of the family that owns one of the world's largest food businesses.

"We only have one planet," Mars said, noting that the world's 7 billion people are currently using the globe's resources at an unsustainable rate. "There are no more raw materials, no more land. Algae allows us the opportunity to rebalance that equation a little bit."

Mars ticked off the resources needed to grow algae and their costs: sunlight -- free, waste water from municipal treatment plants -- free, and carbon dioxide from gas-powered plants -- also free.

"So why not turn (waste) water and sunlight into energy and food and fuel?" he said.

Heliae's initial goal is to produce enough materials for such niche markets as food additives for farm animals and for aquaculture applications while continuing to develop and test industrial processes.

Its long-term goal is to be the world's leading source for algae technology by designing, building and operating algae facilities around the globe, by licensing algae production processes and providing technology services to commercial enterprises.

Algae is far more efficient than other crops commonly used to make biofuels, Johnson said. Soybeans, corn and sugarcanes are seasonal crops that yield, at most, around 600 gallons per acre per year, he said, and also involve intensive farming techniques.

He and Simon expect Heliae will soon be able to produce 20 times that amount.

"All you need to grow algae is sunlight, water and CO2," Johnson said. "You also need a little bit of land, but it doesn't have to be good land. You need water, but it doesn't have to be good water."

Their immediate production goal is to be able to deliver 10,000 gallons of fuel per acre per year.

Johnson estimated that the company is anywhere from three to seven years away from generating revenue.

Simon envisions Arizona in general and Gilbert in particular, as a global center of algae technology.

In addition to plenty of sunshine and affordable non-agricultural land, he cited the town's commitment to fostering high-tech enterprises, its highly educated workforce, strong academic ties and a business-friendly environment.

Heliae has 62 employees; nearly half are engineers.

The company, founded in August 2008, grew out of a partnership with Science Foundation Arizona and researchers at Arizona State University's Polytechnic campus in Mesa. Since July 2010 it has occupied about 15,000 square feet of office and lab space in an industrial park near Germann and Gilbert roads. It also has about 2 acres of land.

Heliae has raised around $25 million in investment capital since 2008.

The challenge now, Mars said, is making the transition from a venture to a business.

While a healthy return on investment is always important, that's not what drives his interest in developing algae as a source of fuel and food.

"Profitability by itself is not the endgame," Mars said. "It's proving the business model can build a whole new industry. We want (investors) who are worried more about the future of their kids and grandkids than just making a buck."

Algae productivity

Crops can be used to make biofuel. Here are some of the most common, and the gallons each can produce from 1 acre of marginal land, according to Heliae:

Soybeans: 62.

Corn: 440.

Switch grass: 562.

Palm: 650.

Sugarcane: 700.

Pond algae: 3,000.

Heliae algae grown in a photo-bioreactor: 12,000.


Original post available here.

Former Idaho National Laboratory Scientist Joins OriginOil's Board of Advisors

Dr. Thomas H. Ulrich is a Leading Biomass Scientist and Key Collaborator with OriginOil

LOS ANGELES, Nov 30, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- OriginOil, Inc. (otc/bb:OOIL), the developer of a breakthrough technology to extract oil from algae and an emerging leader in the global algae oil services industry, today announced the appointment of Dr. Thomas H. Ulrich to its Board of Advisors. Dr. Ulrich was most recently an Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Advisory Scientist and worked closely with OriginOil to create a strategic partnership between INL and OriginOil, as well as launching the first Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between OriginOil and INL. He has been a key supporter of OriginOil's technology and offers tremendous value to the company as a highly regarded thought leader in field of biomass and bioenergy.

"It was my privilege to work alongside Dr. Ulrich at the Idaho National Lab, and Tom has been key to our collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy on biofuel standardization," said Paul Reep, OriginOil's senior vice president of technology. "We have a similar vision and goal of creating standards for biofuels that will advance the whole industry. The OriginOil team joins me in welcoming Dr. Ulrich."

Dr. Ulrich added, "This is a great opportunity for me to continue to contribute to our nation's pursuit of energy independence. OriginOil offers a cost-effective and scalable industrial process that has the potential to make algae a very viable petroleum alternative. Driven by its innovation, intellectual property portfolio, and industry relationships, I believe OriginOil will be the key player in industrial algae technologies."

While at INL, Dr. Ulrich collaborated with OriginOil in the design, implementation, and successful completion of OriginOil's Phase 1 CRADA in February of 2009. This Phase 1 CRADA resulted in an unprecedented Energy Balance Model bringing algae-based fuels one step closer to reality. He has also contributed to the design of Phases 2 and 3 of the CRADA. Dr. Ulrich has been a key contributor to developing the Blendable Feedstock Standard, in which OriginOil is collaborating with the Department of Energy, and which has the potential to help reduce biofuel dependence on food crops.

Dr. Ulrich also initiated and expanded INL's algae biomass R&D program focusing on the integration of algal systems into INL's feedstock supply chain with the development of a uniform feedstock for the bioenergy industry.

Dr. Thomas Ulrich has more than 25 years of experience in planning, securing funding, executing projects as a group leader and principal scientist in private industry and at INL. He has successfully identified internal and external researchers that have strategically partnered to pursue and capture a broad range of Department of Energy, Department of Defense, and private industry R&D funding opportunities.

For his contribution to the Department of Energy's seminal 2011 Billion-Ton Update, Dr. Ulrich received a Letter of Commendation and a Certificate of Appreciation from the Biomass Program of the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. His areas of research include assessing the quality of biomass feedstock that is derived from genetically modified plants, and characterizing gene expression that impacts biomass productivity.

Dr. Ulrich has collaborated on biomass projects funded by the Department of Commerce and Department of Energy. He was most recently an INL Advisory Scientist in the Biological Science Department. He earned his Ph.D. in Agronomy from the University of Illinois, Champaign--Urbana, Illinois. Dr. Ulrich also holds a M.S. in Genetics from Washington State University and a B.S. in Zoology from Washington State University, Pullman, WA.

About OriginOil, Inc. ( www.originoil.com )

OriginOil helps algae growers extract oil from algae for use as a feedstock for the commercial production of transportation fuels, chemicals and foods. In a single step, our breakthrough technology efficiently dewaters and breaks down algae for its useful products, overcoming one of the greatest challenges in making algae a viable replacement for petroleum. As a pioneer and the emerging leader in the global algae oil services field, OriginOil supports its core algae extraction technology with an array of process innovations for some of the world's most successful algae growers and refiners, just as pioneers like Schlumberger and Halliburton have done in the oilfield services industry. To learn more about OriginOil(R), please visit our website at www.originoil.com .

Safe Harbor Statement:

Matters discussed in this press release contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this press release, the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "may," "intend," "expect" and similar expressions identify such forward-looking statements. Actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those contemplated, expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained herein. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the expectations of the Company and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. These include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties associated with our history of losses and our need to raise additional financing, the acceptance of our products and technology in the marketplace, our ability to demonstrate the commercial viability of our products and technology and our need to increase the size of our organization. Further information on the Company's risk factors is contained in the Company's quarterly and annual reports as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason.

Abstract

Former Idaho National Laboratory scientist joins OriginOil's board of advisors, Dr. Thomas H. Ulrich is a leading biomass scientist and key collaborator with OriginOil

Key Words

algae commercialization, algae oil, algae to oil, ooil, originoil, renewable oil, Riggs Eckelberry, Single Step Extraction, SSE, Paul Reep, Thomas Ulrich, INL, Idaho National Laboratory, OriginOil Energy Balance Model

Original post available here.

Sloud, Inc. Acquires SouthWest BioFuels

/PRNewswire/ -- Sloud, Inc., (Pink Sheets: SLOU) announced today that the company has acquired SouthWest BioFuels, Inc., a Tucson Arizona based, development stage company focused on the research and development of algae based bio fuels and related biomass products. The SouthWest BioFuels team is currently working on a proprietary model for the rapid delivery of the high demand of algae through higher concentrations at their own algae farms. Most importantly, SouthWest BioFuels is providing biofuel units for people who wish to operate and own their own biofuel farm so that they can provide fuel for their own vehicles or equipment at a low cost with minimal time and maintenance commitment.

To better reflect the new direction of the company, Sloud will ultimately change its name to SouthWest BioFuels. In addition, the company has accepted the resignation of Gene Sokolov and appointed SouthWest BioFuels' CEO Rick Jimenez CEO of Sloud. The company initiated this change in direction based on market conditions as well as the developing opportunity in the clean energy market space.

Rick Jimenez, CEO of Sloud stated, "I am honored to accept the role of CEO for this exciting and innovative company. We have worked very hard to build SouthWest BioFuels into a viable business and taking this next logical step to become a publicly traded company is in line with our growth plans. We will work tirelessly to continue to build value for our shareholders and further develop our products so that we can reach large scale production in a reasonable amount of time."

About SouthWest BioFuels

The SouthWest BioFuels team is currently working on a proprietary model for the rapid delivery of the high demand of algae through higher concentrations at their own algae farms. Most importantly, SouthWest BioFuels is providing biofuel units for people who wish to operate and own their own biofuel farm so that they can provide fuel for their own vehicles or equipment at a low cost with minimal time and maintenance commitment. For more information, please call.

Forward-Looking Statements Disclosure

This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. In this context, forward-looking statements may address the Company's expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "seeks," "will," and other terms with similar meaning. These forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. Although the Company believes that the assumptions upon which its forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, it can provide no assurances that these assumptions will prove to be correct. All forward-looking statements in this press release are expressly qualified by such cautionary statements, risks, and uncertainties, and by reference to the underlying assumptions.


Original post available here.

Aurora Algae Expands Team with Appointments of New Chief Financial Officer and New Senior Vice President of Sales

New Executives Prime the Company for Next Stage of Commercial Development

HAYWARD, Calif., Nov 29, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Aurora Algae today announced the appointment of two new executives to help drive commercialization of its algae-based platform for sustainable nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, aquaculture and renewable-energy products. Connie Sandusky joins the Company as senior vice president of sales, responsible for developing sales and marketing strategy, while Thomas Willardson will serve as chief financial officer, overseeing Aurora Algae's finance and accounting functions.

"With our demonstration facility in full operation, successfully producing tons of biomass per month, we now need to quickly scale our financial, operations and sales teams to meet the growing demand for algae-based products," said Greg Bafalis, CEO of Aurora Algae. "Tom and Connie are key strategic additions to our executive team as we prepare to break ground on our new commercial production facilities, and intensify our focus on high-value market segments for our algae-based products."

With an extensive track record of growing successful companies and guiding them through private and public fundraising activities, Tom Willardson will oversee Aurora Algae's finance and accounting operations as the Company raises capital to scale its operations to meet market demand. Prior to Aurora Algae, Willardson held CFO positions at Energy Recovery, Inc., Cost Plus, WebSideStory and Archimedes Technology Group Holdings. His fundraising experience includes successful initial public offerings with Energy Recovery, WebSideStory and Leap Wireless. Willardson earned a bachelor's degree in Finance from Brigham Young University and an MBA from the University of Southern California.

Connie Sandusky joins Aurora Algae with 18 years of experience driving growth in B2B food ingredient businesses. She previously served as director of sales, Americas, at D.D. Williamson, a global leader in natural food colorings. Prior to that, Sandusky spent 10 years in sales and marketing leadership roles at Kalsec, a producer of natural colors, flavor extracts, antioxidants and nutritional ingredients for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. As senior vice president of sales, Sandusky will lead sales and marketing to further develop cornerstone commercial relationships and sales commitments in the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, food and beverage, and consumer markets for the Aurora Algae A2 product line. Sandusky earned an MS and a PhD in Food Science from the University of Maryland.

Sandusky and Willardson will be based in the Company's Hayward, Calif. headquarters, reporting directly to CEO Greg Bafalis. For more information, please contact info@aurorainc.com.

About Aurora Algae

Aurora Algae is a producer of high-performance, premium algae-based products for the pharmaceutical, nutrition, aquaculture and fuels markets. The Company has developed the industry's first commercial-scale photosynthetic platform for sustainable, algae-based product development. Aurora Algae's proprietary algae strains and production process uses arid land, seawater and captured carbon pollution from industrial emitters, resulting in more capitally efficient and more environmentally sustainable algae farming. Aurora Algae enables its customers and partners to improve the diversity and sustainability of their product portfolios, while addressing consumer demand for natural products. For more information, please visit www.aurorainc.com .

Original post available here.

November 29, 2011

Algae Farm Selects LumiGrow LED Horticultural Lighting - Algae Biomass Production Facility to Save $400,000 in Year One

LumiGrow, Inc., the leading provider of smart horticultural lighting, today announced that Algae Farm, a pioneer in the indoor cultivation of high yield algae oil, residual biomass and algal biomass, is implementing the LumiGrow LED solution. Algae Farm's selection of the LumiGrow solution is projected to save the company $400 thousand in the first year following installation.

Novato, CA (PRWEB) November 29, 2011

LumiGrow, Inc. (www.lumigrow.com), the leading provider of smart horticultural lighting, today announced that Algae Farm, a pioneer in the indoor cultivation of high yield algae oil, residual biomass and algal biomass, is implementing the LumiGrow LED solution at its facility based on the Houston Advanced Research Center campus in The Woodlands, TX.

Algae Farm's selection of the LumiGrow solution followed a review of agricultural lighting products. The LumiGrow system was selected for its independently proven ability to promote superior yields at a fraction of the cost of fluorescent lighting. Energy-efficient LumiGrow LED lighting will save the company $400 thousand in the first year following installation and provide sustained savings in the form of lower electrical costs, year after year, for the lights' 10-year lifespan. Further, by selecting the LumiGrow system, Algae Farm avoids the release of mercury into the environment, a toxic waste hazard inherent to fluorescent lighting.

LumiGrow LED technology is instrumental to the operation of Algae Farm's algae biomass production system, which will produce algae for the nutraceutical, cosmetic and renewable energy market sectors. By growing in a climate-controlled indoor environment, Algae Farm can achieve predictable and scalable yields while it maintains the highest purity standards.

"Algae Farm is committed to providing commercial algal products reliably. This requires that we eliminate uncertainties and control production variables, including light," said Algae Farm CEO Rick Berman. He continued, "With the LumiGrow solution, we are assured of a lasting, highest-quality lighting source for our crops."

"Controlled environment agriculture is rapidly gaining ground among innovative growers. Algae Farm is taking a leadership position in demonstrating commercial scalability as well as environmental and financial feasibility," said Kevin Wells, CEO of LumiGrow.

About LumiGrow, Inc.
LumiGrow, Inc., the leader in smart horticultural lighting, enables commercial growers and agribusinesses to reduce energy costs, achieve operational efficiencies and improve crop yield. LumiGrow offers a range of third-party proven solutions for use in greenhouses, controlled environment agriculture and scientific research chambers. LumiGrow solutions are eligible for energy efficiency subsidies from Pacific Gas & Electric, Puget Sound Energy and other utilities. The Company's 500 commercial and institutional customers include Dow AgroSciences, Duke University and the USDA. Headquartered in Novato, California, LumiGrow is privately owned and operated. For more information, call (800) 514-0487 or visit www.lumigrow.com.

LumiGrow is a registered trademark of LumiGrow, Inc. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

Original post available here.

San Diego Logistics Center Preps SDTS for Alternative Fuel Test

By Candice Villarreal, NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center San Diego Public Affairs

NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center (FLC) San Diego personnel successfully loaded the Self Defense Test Ship (SDTS) with a breakthrough alternative fuel blend recently at the Defense Fuel Supply Point (DFSP) in San Diego.

NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center San Diego

In preparation for the Navy’s largest demonstration of shipboard alternative fuel use, NAVSUP FLC San Diego fuel department personnel transferred about 20,000 gallons of a 50-50 blend of hydro-processed algae-derived algal oil and petroleum F-76 to SDTS, a decommissioned Spruance-class destroyer formerly known as Paul F. Foster (EDD 964).

Three tanker trucks transferred the fuel to SDTS over a six-hour period at the supply point’s Pier 180 aboard Naval Base Point Loma. Following the fueling operation, SDTS set sail for its 17-hour test transit back to Port Hueneme, Calif.

“The alternative fuel is really a drop-in fuel, meaning we conduct the entire fueling evolution just as we would with traditional fuels, making it not only beneficial for the environment, but also convenient for us as operators,” said Lt. Cmdr. Frank Kim, fuel officer for NAVSUP FLC San Diego. “We use the same types of trucks, hoses and other pierside equipment to transfer the fuel, and no modifications are required either from a fueling perspective or on the shipboard side. It’s going to be pretty amazing to see where these fuels take us in the future.”

Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Energy, Installations and Environment) Jackalyne Pfannenstiel and Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Energy) Thomas Hicks were present during the fueling evolution and hosted a question-and-answer session about the alternative fuel and the imminent demonstration.

Following its decommissioning, SDTS was reconfigured to provide the Navy an at-sea, remotely controlled engineering test and evaluation platform without the risk to personnel or operational assets. The ship successfully concluded the demonstration upon its Nov. 17 arrival at Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme.

The Navy continues to test alternative fuels as part of the energy strategy developed to enhance energy security and environmental stewardship while reducing greenhouse emissions.

“This might be the largest demonstration to date, but it won’t be the last,” Kim said. “We’re charged with fueling the fleet, and wherever the Navy’s energy innovations take us, that’s where we’ll be. Years back, we focused only on traditional petroleum products, but now we’re going to keep the pace to do our part in meeting the Navy’s energy goals and eventually powering our great green fleet.”

NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center San Diego, one of seven fleet logistics centers under NAVSUP Global Logistics Support, provides global logistics, business and support services to fleet, shore and industrial commands of the Navy, Coast Guard, Military Sealift Command, and other joint and allied Forces. Services include contracting, regional transportation, fuel, material management, household goods movement support, postal and consolidated mail, warehousing, global logistics and husbanding, hazardous material management, and integrated logistics support.

NAVSUP GLS comprises more than 5,700 military and civilian logistics professionals, contractors and foreign nationals operating as a single cohesive team providing global logistics services from 110 locations worldwide.

A component of the Naval Supply Systems Command headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pa., NAVSUP GLS is part of a worldwide logistics network of more than 22,500 military and civilian personnel providing combat capability through logistics.

Original post available here.

Australian partnership breeds new algae harvesting system

By Luke Geiver | November 28, 2011

After two years of research and development performed in part with Australia’s MBD Energy and James Cook University, OriginOil has designed and built a three part algae harvesting system that will be commercially available in early 2012. The system is trademarked the AlgaeAppliance and is a downsized version of the harvesting system employed at the MBD pilot scale plant in Australia. As Bill Charneski, OriginOil’s senior director of product engineering, told Biodiesel Magazine, this is a system the company believes rivals any off-the-shelf appliance, such as a refrigerator, which anyone can put in their house (or in this case, a production facility) to do a given job.

“What we realized,” he said, “is that in the algae marketplace there are very few people that have any amount of algae,” adding that when the company talks to various growers, most are growing between 10,000 and 20,000 gallons of algae. Because the systems developed for MBD are too large for most growers, Charneski explained that a smaller system was needed. The device they created can operate at a very low range, somewhere between two liters to 20 liters of algae slurry per minute to remove 90 to 95 percent of the water.

The AlgaeAppliance works in three ways. Because the algae cells in the water are negatively charged, every algae cell repels away from the other. “It’s kind of like a magnet,” Charneski explained. “If you put two negatives together, they won’t attract.” To alter the charge of the algae cells, the harvesting system employs an electromagnetic pulse that neutralizes the charge. After performing the EMP, the algae cells would naturally float to the bottom of whatever vessel the algae was housed in, but during the second stage of the harvesting system tiny air bubbles are injected into the water, floating the algae cells to the surface. “The water goes out the bottom,” Charneski said, “the algae cells become a mat at the top and you can rake out the algae cells from the top of the tank.” The final stage of the process, which may or may not be performed based on the user’s preference, is another EMP that will break open the algae cell membrane, releasing the lipid oil inside the cells.

The system runs as a continuous process and uses zero chemicals, can handle any type of algae strain and comes as a single unit that only needs the algae water input plugged in on one side, and the power source plugged into another. The initial work, including the basic engineering of the system, was all done in-house at the company’s Los Angeles facilities, but the final engineering of the systems were performed by Pace Engineering, a wastewater treatment specialist. Although the AlgaeAppliance is suited for lower inputs, systems in Australia have run as high as 300 gallons per minute.

Charneski said that the company hopes the harvesting system will help the marketplace develop a greater supply of wet biomass, something he also noted is a feedstock the U.S. DOE is looking at. According to Charneski, the DOE’s push to create uniform specifications for biomass like those seen in the petroleum industry for different products will help growers and manufacturers create processes for particular specifications. One of those specifications could be the algae uniform intermediate feedstock (UIF), which is what the AlgaeAppliance produces.

Original post available here.

Researchers Genetically Engineer Algae to Increase Oil Yields by Up to 50%: Should We Be Concerned?

Franken-algae may be key to reducing carbon emissions. But do they represent a different environmental threat?

Researchers at Iowa State University say they’ve unlocked a genetic pathway in algae that can dramatically increase the amount of CO2 consumed by the organisms, thus helping recycle more of the greenhouse gas and increasing oil yields for non-food based biofuels by as much as 50%.

ISU photo by Bob Elbert

Algae use two genes — LCIA and LCIB — to help them regulate CO2 intake. When growing in low-CO2 environments, these two genes are activated to help the organisms take in more of the gas to their cells. But when CO2 concentrations are high, the genes are shut off.

Researchers led by Iowa State Professor of Genetics Martin Spalding figured out how to keep those genes turned on all the time, turning this strain of algae (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii) into a CO2-sucking, biomass-producing machine:

When the two genes were expressed together, Spalding was surprised to see the 50 to 80 percent biomass increase.

“Somehow these two genes are working together to increase the amount of carbon dioxide that’s converted through photosynthesis into biomass by the algae under conditions where you would expect there would already be enough carbon dioxide,” said Spalding.

The excess biomass naturally becomes starch through the photosynthesis process, and increases the biomass starch by around 80 percent.

By using some existing mutated genes, Spalding can instruct the algae to make oil instead of starch. This process requires more energy and the process results in around a 50 percent increase in oil biomass.

While this research is promising for limiting carbon emissions and expanding biofuels, it’s not really new. Genetically modified algae are a key part of the “secret sauce” of companies like Sapphire Energy, Solazyme, Synthetic Genomics and TransAlgae, which are all toying with different genetic changes in order to increase oil production.

But what if these organisms — which can very easily leave the lab on clothing, skin or through the air — escape into the natural environment and contaminate the gene pool of wild algae and dramatically increase growth rates?

Researchers say they’ve modified the organisms in different ways to prevent them from thriving the wild. Some are bred with “suicide” genes; others are modified to be domesticated and are unable to live outside the lab.

So far, there have been no cases of genetically modified algae causing problems. However, the Departments of Energy and Agriculture have avoided comprehensive environmental reviews of modified strains.

Industry representatives say it’s important not to add costly reviews at a time when the industry is starting to achieve scale, and say the risks can easily be minimized. Others, like bioenergy expert David Haberman, criticize the government for not putting more thought into potential impacts, saying “the lack of study of the potential hazards is of great concern.”

Haberman has been warning of the threat of genetically modified algae for years — saying rogue organisms could disrupt fisheries, hurt recreation and make people sick. “There’s little oversight and no regulatory regime,” he says.

Genetic modification will continue to be a major part of algae-to-biofuels research. This latest finding from Iowa State is proof of the major positive impact it could have on expanding biofuels production.

But it’s also a reminder that the potential unintended consequences can be equally strong.

Algae biomass gets major genetic engineering boost

  • Research has led to discovery of a genetic method that can increase biomass in algae by 50 percent to 80 percent.
  • The breakthrough comes from expressing certain genes in algae that increase the amount of photosynthesis in the plant, which leads to more biomass.
  • This opens up possibilities for more and better biofuel development.

Research at Iowa State University has led to discovery of a genetic method that can increase biomass in algae by 50 percent to 80 percent.

Penton Media - Western Farm Press, Click Here!

The breakthrough comes from expressing certain genes in algae that increase the amount of photosynthesis in the plant, which leads to more biomass.

Expressing genes means that the gene's function is turned on.

"The key to this (increase in biomass) is combination of two genes that increases the photosynthetic carbon conversion into organic matter by 50 percent over the wild type under carbon dioxide enrichment conditions," said Martin Spalding, professor in the Department of Genetics, Development, and Cell Biology and associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Carbon enrichment conditions are those in which the algae has enough carbon dioxide.

This patent-pending technology is available for licensing from the Iowa State University Research Foundation, which also provided technology development funds.

This opens up possibilities for more and better biofuel development, according to Spalding.

"There is no doubt in my mind that this brings us closer [to affordable, domestic biofuel]," said Spalding.

In nature, algae are limited from growing faster because they don't get enough carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, according to Spalding.

In environments that have relatively low levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), such as air in earth's atmosphere, two genes in algae, LCIA and LCIB, are expressed - or turned on - to help capture and then channel more carbon dioxide from the air into the cells to keep the algae alive and growing.

However, when algae are in environments with high carbon dioxide levels, such as in soil near plant roots that are expiring carbon dioxide, the two relevant genes shut down because the plant is getting enough carbon dioxide.

The process is similar to a car driving up a hill. The accelerator - these two genes - is pressed and the engine works hard to climb a hill. But when going down an incline, the driver often lets up on the accelerator since more gas isn't needed - the genes shut down.

The two genes are expressed - essentially keeping algae's foot on the gas - even when they are in a carbon dioxide-rich environment and don't need additional carbon dioxide.

Research by Spalding's group shows that algae can be made to produce biomass with the accelerator floored, even in conditions where it would normally just coast, Spalding said.

"Based on some prior research we had done, we expected to see an increase, probably in the 10 to 20 percent range" he said. "But we were surprised to see this big of an increase."

In experiments to get the algae type (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii) to produce more biomass, Spalding first expressed LCIA and LCIB separately. Each effort granted a significant 10 to 15 percent increase in biomass.

When the two genes were expressed together, Spalding was surprised to see the 50 to 80 percent biomass increase.

"Somehow these two genes are working together to increase the amount of carbon dioxide that's converted through photosynthesis into biomass by the algae under conditions where you would expect there would already be enough carbon dioxide," said Spalding.

The excess biomass naturally becomes starch through the photosynthesis process, and increases the biomass starch by around 80 percent.

By using some existing mutated genes, Spalding can instruct the algae to make oil instead of starch. This process requires more energy and the process results in around a 50 percent increase in oil biomass.

Spalding's research was funded in part by grants from the Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Department of Energy, Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy.

Original post available here.

November 26, 2011

Feature: Beyond the hype of algal biofuels

Algal biofuels have been much hyped, but the reality is getting closer every day. Chemical engineer and algal biofuels researcher David Lewis brings algae down to earth.


The promise of biofuels from algae is undoubtedly compelling: replacing carbon dioxide-belching fossil fuels with a clean and (literally) green alternative that will even eat some extra carbon as it grows. The picture is enticing, the hype is almost unbelievable, but so far that is all we have: hype.

At the BioProcessing Network Conference in Adelaide in October, David Lewis, a no-nonsense chemical engineer and relative newcomer on the algal biofuels scene, cut through the hype and clarified the reality of the promises, and left the audience with more than a little hope about the future.

Also read about Associate Professor Ben Hankamer's research on biofuel production from microalgae at the University of Queensland.

David Lewis was introduced to algae during his PhD, which he spent working out ways to control the unwanted blue-green algae in drinking-supply reservoirs. He subsequently took up an academic position in the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of Adelaide and stayed with algae as the basis for his research program.

However, being a good chemical engineer, his thinking shifted to converting this raw material into real products and culminated in Lewis setting up the Microalgal Engineering Research Group within the School in 2003.

The group’s first project involved turning algae into feedstock for aquaculture, which is an important and growing industry in Australia, particularly so in South Australia, with the established oyster and burgeoning tuna farming industry.

“One of the bottlenecks in aquaculture is the production of live feed,” says Lewis. “So we were looking for different ways to optimise the growth of algae for this purpose.” In undertaking that project, Lewis learnt lots about the composition of algae, including one interesting thing he didn’t previously realise: these tiny plants are chock-a block full of oil.

By 2007 Lewis had built up quite an expertise in algal chemistry and was invited to attend a workshop in the U.S. on the future of algal biofuels, which was just taking off at that time as a tangible idea.

“At the workshop, we were put in working teams with other scientists from all over the world, and the one I was in decided that yes, we would all go ahead with this because despite being high risk, it was topical, and it was the right time.”

At the same time a funding opportunity came up from the Australian Government – namely the Asia-Pacific Partnership (APP) – whereby several countries including Australia joined together to invest funding for research into CO2 mitigation.

Together with colleagues Peter Ashman in Adelaide and Michael Borowitzka from Murdoch University in Perth, they pitched a proposal for some of this APP funding for their biofuels from algae research, and were successful. The $1.89 million grant allowed them to go ahead with building a pilot plant at Karratha in the northwest of Western Australia, which was completed and running by mid-2011.

“We had decided even before applying for the funding that a pilot plant had to be part of any such program,” Lewis explains. “So much work has been done on growing and harvesting algae for biofuels in the lab, that there was no point doing any more. We knew that unless we could scale up, there would be no significant progress.”

Hitting the pond running

So when the funding came through in 2008, Lewis and the team wasted no time in ramping up the project, quickly amassing a sizable team of researchers across the two sites. “Michael looked after the biology and we did the engineering,” says Lewis.

“We were also very fortunate that Michael already had an awesome strain of algae from previous work that has a very high oil content and can survive in an open pond environment in high salt.”

Having this strain first up meant the team could really hit the ground running. “To grow algae for fuel you need a lot of it, which also means you need lots and lots of water, and you can’t use freshwater because we just don’t have enough of it.

“We therefore need to use seawater, which is of course plentiful and cheap, but you need an algal strain that can handle it and thrive. Indeed, one reason that a lot of groups around the world have struggled in this field is their lack of an appropriate strain – so we had a big advantage first up.”

Based on Borowitzka’s work with his selected strain and the collective experience of Lewis and Ashman, the group already had a lot of the algal chemistry, biology and engineering nailed at the lab and tiny-pond level. But, what happens when you go big?

According to Lewis, when you start to scale up ponds full of algae, the biology changes, and the challenges magnify. So from 2008 until now the team has been working on all the involved processing steps simultaneously: how to grow enough algae, harvest the algae, get enough oil out, etc, and to be able to do it at scale. Plus, it all has to be energy and cost sustainable.

The first of these challenges is growing a product of sufficiently high purity, explains Lewis. “These ponds are like very shallow lakes full of algae, so basically anything can and does get in them, and thus the climate and conditions – temperature, wind, dust, contamination, etc – will dictate how the algae grows, and these changes are very difficult to predict accurately. So really we learnt how best to do this as we went along with the scale up.”

The team quickly realised that understanding the biology of their algal system and their requirements in terms of product was a big key to future success. “For example, one reason that our pilot plant produces one of the purest algal products anywhere is that our algae strain will survive in salt concentrations of 3.5 per cent (seawater) up to 11 per cent.

“And once you get up to 4-5 per cent most other contaminating algae and microorganisms die. So we still get invasion of our ponds all the time, but nothing else can take hold in the hyper-saline conditions, and the algae outcompetes everything.” So that has taken care of one of the biggest challenges of growing algae in open ponds on the sort of scale needed for commercial production.

The next challenge was harvesting such a huge amount of algae and doing it without expending huge amounts of energy or money in the process. Lewis explains that algae will only grow at fairly dilute concentrations – he says it looks a lot like green cordial – so that it still gets enough light for photosynthesis.

And this is why the ponds have to be so big and shallow. The problem from a technology standpoint is then collecting the amount of pure biomass you need from so much water.

“We looked at a few technologies around the world and then decided to develop our own to overcome this challenge. I can’t talk about this a whole lot about it due to our commercial interests, but I can say that it is based on electrokinetics and that we currently use about 0.1 kilowatt hour (kWh) of energy to harvest 1 tonne of pond matter, which produces 20-25 g useful organic weight of algae per m2 per day. This is as good as anyone is getting anywhere at the moment,” says Lewis.

The technology is now established at the Karratha plant and we are working towards producing the same amount but using only 0.01 kWh. That is where we want, and need, to be.

“We also have to think of the end point cost of our product – our ultimate aim is $1 per litre. Currently we are down to about $5 per litre, but of course who is going to buy the equivalent of petrol at that cost? No-one. So obviously we have to get that down to a mark where you can compete with fossil fuels and still make some money on top of that.”

Once harvested, the next challenge is breaking the algae cells open to extract the oil, and that is another area of technology that Lewis’s team had to develop in-house. “It sounds simple, but it’s actually very complex technologically.

“How to get enough energy onto the cell wall that we break the cells open without smashing them apart completely. It is especially hard with these guys growing in up to 11 per cent salt. They are pretty tough.” But again, without being able to reveal how, the team is confident it has cracked that nut too.

One of the final challenges is getting the end product out of the harvested and damaged algae, in this case, the oil. There are well established ways to do this that involve solvents such as hexane, and the program at Karratha uses a fairly standard stepwise extraction process at the moment.

Come together

In the midst of all this process development, the biofuels pilot plant at Karratha became operational on schedule in mid-2011. Along the way, the university teams were joined by an industry partner SQC, an algal technology company based in Adelaide. According to Lewis, SQC saw the joint venture as a good opportunity to expand its business, and Lewis’s team certainly welcomed the accompanying injection of cash.

Then, late last year, the three entities involved, Murdoch, University of Adelaide and SQC, spun out a joint venture company called Muradel. “This company will take over the pilot plant and all the intellectual property at the end of October this year, which is when the APP project funding finishes,” says Lewis.

“Muradel aims to take all this technology we have developed over the last few years and scale it up to the next level, into a commercial reality. The pilot plant currently covers one acre, but at least 1000 times that area is needed to make a commercially viable amount of fuel. This will involve securing the millions of dollars needed to build the next step: a demonstration plant.”

According to Lewis, the field of algal biofuels needs a couple of breakthrough technologies to take things to that next level. “We really need to reduce the number of processes, something like a black box in which we can run several processes all at once: harvest, damage and extract, for example.” One option for that which is currently on trial in the U.S. is microwave technology, and everyone is watching with interest.

“The field also really needs a breakthrough process for oil extraction from the algae,” he says. “Producing biocrude negates the need to cavitate and extract, but then extra steps may be required for refining. Can we develop a technology that allows us to extract clean oil straight from the algae?”

To this end, Lewis has recently been talking to Geoff Fincer in Adelaide, a plant geneticist, to find a biological solution to this hurdle. Together, they are working out how to modify the algae for easier processing into fuel, by literally going to the source. “We are currently looking for an industry partner for this project,” says Lewis.

“We have money from BioInnovation SA, and are now seeking support from the ARC with the necessary industry partners. This will be a long-term investment.”

Now that the pilot plant is up and running, the team can go back to the lab and look more broadly at the processes, and one direction is the direct conversion of biomass to biocrude oil without even breaking the algae open. “So we are now looking at processes for taking this big mass of horrible ugly crude oil and pulling out just those components needed to make biodiesel or even jet fuel.

The jet fuel angle is particularly exciting because all of the big airlines are currently very interested in securing a fuel feedstock for their industry, even funding their own biofuel research projects including into algae.

Indeed, Airbus and Boeing have plans for their own global biofuel ‘service stations’ across the world and Airbus estimates that by 2030, up to 30 per cent of jet fuel could be plant-derived.

On top of that, in July of this year, the relevant regulatory authority body in the U.S., the Air Transport Association, ratified the requirements for using biofuels in passenger jets.

“This is great for us,” says Lewis, “because we now have a target set of criteria to meet. And so we now also have a team who are looking specifically at how to convert our crude product into something that meets these requirements.”

Original post available here.

Scientists eye 'super slime' as possible greenhouse gas solution

Dr.Patrick McGinn, Research Officer NRC Institute for Marine Biosciences, looks over algae next to the Tubular Photobioreactor at their facility in Ketch Harbour,NS, November 17, 2011. Research is being conducted in using algae to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Dr.Patrick McGinn, Research Officer NRC Institute for Marine Biosciences, looks over algae next to the Tubular Photobioreactor at their facility in Ketch Harbour,NS, November 17, 2011. Research is being conducted in using algae to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Photograph by: Paul Darrow, Postmedia News

KETCH HARBOUR, N.S. — At a federal lab here on the windy shores of Nova Scotia, the hunt is on for super slime.

Algae plucked from creeks and ponds as far away as Alberta's oil patch and southern Ontario's industrial corridor are turning flasks of water bright green as scientists search for promising candidates.

The faster the organisms suck up carbon dioxide, the better, as John McDougall, president of the National Research Council, envisions big things for the lowly microbes.

McDougall is a long-time and unabashed promoter of using algae to reduce Canada's greenhouse gas emissions and has lobbied for years to get government to invest in a pilot project.

Now, McDougall, who was appointed president of the National Research Council in 2010, is focusing some of the council's considerable resources on making the algae grow-op a reality.

Carbon-catching algae have been chosen as one of four "flagship" projects at the council, which has of budget of almost $1 billion and 4,000 staff across Canada.

"The idea behind a flagship," said McDougall, "is to do something really important that would be substantial in scale and make a real difference to Canada if you could pull it off."

Redirecting carbon dioxide away from smokestacks is clearly important, he said, and "something that Canada is going to have to get its mind around."

And algae, he said, have the potential to take a sizeable bite out of this country's emissions and gobble up millions of tonnes of emissions a year.

"If it works, you're looking perhaps at as much as 15 to 20 per cent of carbon dioxide could be dealt with," said McDougall. He also sees international opportunities, noting Canadian algae-growing technology and know-how could be exported.

McDougall said there are challenges with mass-producing "super slime," as the fast-growing algae are described in one NRC report.

But the benefits are potentially "so enormous that it is worth spending a little money to find out," McDougall said in a recent interview, suggesting it could take $50 to $100 million to find out if using algae is a viable way to capture carbon.

McDougall said there could be all kinds of possible applications.

Carbon-hungry algae systems could be bolted on the "the back end" of existing power stations, oil sand operations, smelters, fertilizer and cement plants across Canada. "Anything that has a big smokestack," he said.

The idea, he said, is to get algae to suck up carbon dioxide, and generate oils, proteins and compounds that could be used for everything from biofuels to animal feed to cosmetics.

David Layzell, executive director of the Energy and Environmental Systems Group at the University of Calgary, doesn't buy it.

"I would argue that Canada wasn't dealt the cards you need to win in the bio-algae game," said Layzell. He said Canada's climate and cold, dark winters are not conducive to growing algae on a massive scale.

Nor does Layzell see algae making much of a dent in Canada's CO2 emissions, which are sure to attract negative attention at the UN-led climate talks that start in South Africa on Nov 28.

"If you are really interested in climate change," said Layzell, "I can give you much better things to do with the money."

Canada's carbon dioxide emissions are widely seen as a problem — and an international embarrassment — but McDougall said he prefers to see them as an opportunity.

"CO2 is the biggest unused natural resource in Canada," he said, referring to the 690 million tonnes Canada pumps into the atmosphere each year. The emissions make Canadians among the highest per capita CO2 emitters on the planet.

McDougall said the "epiphany " came several years ago when he said: "Hey, you know, what we've got is a big resource, we're producing it, it is coming out of the pipe every day, why don't we do something with it?"

McDougall championed using algae to capture CO2 when he was head of the Alberta Research Council and also as chair of Innoventures Canada, or I-CAN, a non-for profit consortium of technical organizations that work to commercialize research.

He even drank the green stuff as part of one I-CAN event t o promote using algae to "fast-track Mother Nature's own greenhouse gas recycling process" and make "value-added products."

McDougall is still a director of I-Can, and unnamed bloggers said he may be in a conflict of interest by promoting one of the group's pet projects now that he is president of NRC, the country's top science shop.

McDougall disagrees. I-CAN is non-profit, public interest organization "just trying to figure out how to work together for the benefit of the country," he said. "So there is no sort of personal benefit, or really even organizational benefit."

McDougall also noted NRC scientists suggested using algae to capture CO2 when asked for possible flagship projects.

The idea struck a receptive chord and McDougall and council officials chose CO2-ingesting algae as one of four NRC flagships this spring, along with high-output wheat, printable electronics and composite materials from biomass.

NRC researcher Patrick McGinn opened a fridge in the council's Institute for Marine Biosciences in Ketch Harbour where the "seed stock" for the algae flagship is being nurtured.

The test tubes, flasks and petri dishes contain algae that have been plucked from water samples from across the country, many of them from Ontario and Alberta, where they may eventually be put back to work.

McGinn, an algae specialist, said it might be more fitting to call the strains weeds, rather than super slime.

"Robust, hardy weeds," he said, explaining the algae will need to be tough enough to survive in industries sending huge volumes of CO2 up their smokestacks.

"We don't want strains that are killed by flue gas, we want ones that thrive under it," he said.

Algae are simple organisms that occur in an incredible variety of shapes and sizes in nature.

McGinn, who has been studying algae for years, says some strains take up carbon dioxide four to five times better than of their neighbours. The most promising ones can be coaxed to make so much oil that it accounts for 30 to 40 per cent of their weight and they begin to resemble little sacs of oil.

The team now has about 100 strains in their collection and is aiming to add another 100.

The algae are being put to the test in bioreactors, known as "brite boxes," and an elaborate system of illuminated, and very green, tubes on the main floor of the Ketch Harbour facility.

The algae are fed a diet of "simulated" smokestack gas and waste water that is trucked to the seaside lab from the community of Bedford, about 35 kilometres away.

Algae are the stuff of pond scum, but the organisms grown here tend to end up as dark green powder.

NRC researcher Patrick McGinn pulled out a bucket full of one of the research team's "favorite strains" that's been harvested and dried.

The algae transformed the CO2 and wastewater into "basically an energy source," said McGinn. Oil extracted from the algae can be turned into biofuel, possibly even jet fuel, while leftover proteins and carbohydrates can be used such as feed, fertilizer and additives.

The algae show their potential here in Ketch Harbour. But the lab that is at the heart of NRC flagship grows just 15 to 20 kilograms of algae a month, McGinn said.

That is plenty for the experiments the NRC is running with industrial and academic partners across the country, but negligible compared to the millions of tonnes of algae it would take to reduce Canada's CO2 emissions.

McDougall said he is satisfied the concept of using algae is scientifically sound. Now, he said, it "warrants a good hard look" to see if algal systems can soak up CO2 in the real world "hour after hour, day after day, week after week," on a sustained and economical basis.

Details have not been announced, but he said he expects to see "$20 to $30 million" invested in a demonstration project that would get Canada into the international bio-algae race.

Algae have some distinct advantages over biofuel crops such as corn and canola. They don't require farmland and convert sunlight to oil much faster than plants, which spend a lot of time and energy growing leaves and roots.

But algae also have some disadvantages, said Layzell, noting how algae need far more nitrogen and other nutrients than plants or trees. "And nitrogen fertilizer is very expensive," he said, and generates large amounts of CO2 when it is made.

McGinn said one way around the problem is to grow algae in municipal wastewater. It contains nitrogen and phosphorus than can be harmful when released into the environment, but act like fertilizer boosting algal growth. McGinn said CO2 to feed the algae could be pumped in from near-by industrial sources.

While far more upbeat about algae biofuels than Layzell, McGinn said the challenges of mass-producing algae using CO2 heading up smokestacks are "quite daunting."

For starters, algae can only take up CO2 so fast.

"Even the best strains have their limits, you can't force feed them," he said, noting that too much CO2 acidifies water and can be toxic to the organisms.

To avoid this problem, he said one of NRC's industrial partners is devising a technique for controlling how much CO2 is fed into algal growth systems.

Cold dark icy winters are another problem.

McGinn said it might be possible to grow algae year-round using covered or insulated ponds, or bioreactors, that could be kept warm with waste heat from industry.

There is also talk of optimizing sunlight by using mirrors to concentrate and direct the light onto algal cultures during the dark winter months.

The Canadian climate is, however, not all bad.

McGinn and McDougall said many algae tend to prefer Canadian summers to the extreme heat seen in hotter parts of the world. "It's too hot for them, just like it's too hot for us," said McDougall. "So they take siestas."

Even so, Layzell said the southern U.S., Mexico and tropical parts of the world are more hospitable to the burgeoning algae biofuel industry.

"The question is: Is this an area where we can compete," said Layzell, who specializes in assessing energy systems. He said he would argue "no" because the infrastructure and operating costs of growing bio-algae in Canada will put the country at a "competitive disadvantage" compared to warmer places.

"We don't have the climate," he said. Canadian algae systems would have to either shut down or be housed inside in the winter, he said. And the organisms might need to be fed sugars to make it through long winter nights. On top of that, he said, nutrients would have to be recycled to keep fertilizer costs down, and steps would have to be taken to keep harmful bacteria and unwanted strains of algae out of the growth chambers.

There is also debate about how good algae biofuel would be for the environment, he said, pointing to studies that suggest algae biofuel might be no more beneficial than driving around on regular gasoline.

Layzell said Canadians need to start thinking more strategically of how best to use the country's vast land mass and biological resources to generate new forms of clean energy. He said a more promising prospect than algae might be to breed fast-growing trees, and devise the technology to turn the wood into liquid fuel or, better yet, convert it into electricity.

"What we need is something that will grow under really nasty environmental conditions, when the country's frozen for five months of the year," said Layzell.


Original post available here.

November 25, 2011

A Conversation With Riggs Eckelberry, CEO of OriginOil

Nov 25 2011, 2:02 PM ET

Eckelberry-Post.jpg The CEO and president of OriginOil, Riggs Eckelberry is leading the charge to extract oil from algae to use in commercial fuels as a viable replacement for petroleum. He started the company in 2007 after helping to invent its breakthrough technology, but he's no stranger to corporate America. Before founding OriginOil, Eckelberry worked as president and COO of CyberDefender Corporation, founder and president of TechTransform, and general manager of Panda Software. Earlier this year, he was named to the advisory board of the National Algae Association.

Here, Eckelberry discusses how taking time off to go ski-bumming at the age of 40, a year spent working in the film industry, and even a brief stint as a wine importer have made him a better CEO; why it is that Australia deserves to be recognized in a sustainability Hall of Fame; and why he's amazed to see people ordering wild salmon because they object to salmon farming practices.

What do you say when people ask you, "What do you do?"

I'm working on algae, which is the original oil. Now we're making it again.

What new idea or innovation is having the most significant impact on the sustainability world?

We're now deploying leapfrog technology to create real sustainability. It's no longer a catchword.

What's something that most people just don't understand about your area of expertise?

How much it depends on checking, and rechecking, and rechecking again.

What's an emerging trend that you think will shake up the sustainability world?

The role that food-based fuels are playing in food prices. I just saw that sugar prices are up 85 percent this harvest. This idea of burning what we eat is going to create a mainstream backlash against all renewables -- it already is, and it's going to stain all of us if we don't move quickly.

What's a sustainability trend that you wish would go away?

I'm amazed to see people ordering wild salmon because they object to salmon farming practices. I understand why, but it's better to do without, because wild salmon is already endangered. Meanwhile, farming practices are improving greatly.

What's an idea you became fascinated with but that ended up taking you off track?

I've been off track so many times in my life that I ended up thinking of it as a strength. I mean, what am I going to make of my year in film production, or how I went ski-bumming at the age of 40, or my stint as a wine importer? These and many other things were probably a waste of time, but they made me a far better person today -- and a better CEO, too.

Who are three people or organizations that you would put in a Hall of Fame for your field?

I have great respect for the team at Solazyme, who have worked with great consistency to scale up algae production. Larry Sirmans was the CTO at Australia's MBD Energy who had the vision and energy to force us out of the lab and into the field. And I think all of Australia is tops for aggressively scaling up industrial algae production. They are leading the New Petroleum revolution.

What other field or occupation did you consider going into?

As a teen I was all set to go into film, even got into NYU film school. But being a sixties kid, I got deeply involved in the non-profit space, and then high tech claimed me for what it could do. Now my young teen son is an editor, and I'm in there with him, shooting and advising. He has a site, eckelberryfilms.com. All in all, a fine outcome.

What website or app most helps you do your job on a daily basis?

Exchange on Blackberry lets me run my company in real time, wherever I am. That, combined with my hot ultra light Thinkpad X220, makes me very, very dangerous.

What song's been stuck in your head lately?

Queen playing "Under Pressure" live with David Bowie. That seems about right.

Original post available here.

Algae Biomass Increased by More Than 50 Percent

ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2011) — Research at Iowa State University has led to discovery of a genetic method that can increase biomass in algae by 50 to 80 percent. The breakthrough comes from expressing certain genes in algae that increase the amount of photosynthesis in the plant, which leads to more biomass.

Martin Spalding, professor in the Department of Genetics, Development, and Cell Biology and associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, is leading a team that discovered a genetic method that can increase biomass in algae by 50 to 80 percent. (Credit: ISU photo by Bob Elbert).

Expressing genes means that the gene's function is turned on.

"The key to this (increase in biomass) is combination of two genes that increases the photosynthetic carbon conversion into organic matter by 50 percent over the wild type under carbon dioxide enrichment conditions," said Martin Spalding, professor in the Department of Genetics, Development, and Cell Biology and associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Carbon enrichment conditions are those in which the algae has enough carbon dioxide.

This patent-pending technology is available for licensing from the Iowa State University Research Foundation, which also provided technology development funds.

This opens up possibilities for more and better biofuel development, according to Spalding.

"There is no doubt in my mind that this brings us closer [to affordable, domestic biofuel]," said Spalding.

In nature, algae are limited from growing faster because they don't get enough carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, according to Spalding.

In environments that have relatively low levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), such as air in earth's atmosphere, two genes in algae, LCIA and LCIB, are expressed -- or turned on -- to help capture and then channel more carbon dioxide from the air into the cells to keep the algae alive and growing.

However, when algae are in environments with high carbon dioxide levels, such as in soil near plant roots that are expiring carbon dioxide, the two relevant genes shut down because the plant is getting enough carbon dioxide.

The process is similar to a car driving up a hill. The accelerator -- these two genes -- is pressed and the engine works hard to climb a hill. But when going down an incline, the driver often lets up on the accelerator since more gas isn't needed -- the genes shut down.

The two genes are expressed -- essentially keeping algae's foot on the gas -- even when they are in a carbon dioxide-rich environment and don't need additional carbon dioxide.

Research by Spalding's group shows that algae can be made to produce biomass with the accelerator floored, even in conditions where it would normally just coast, Spalding said.

"Based on some prior research we had done, we expected to see an increase, probably in the 10 to 20 percent range" he said. "But we were surprised to see this big of an increase."

In experiments to get the algae type (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii) to produce more biomass, Spalding first expressed LCIA and LCIB separately. Each effort granted a significant 10 to 15 percent increase in biomass.

When the two genes were expressed together, Spalding was surprised to see the 50 to 80 percent biomass increase.

"Somehow these two genes are working together to increase the amount of carbon dioxide that's converted through photosynthesis into biomass by the algae under conditions where you would expect there would already be enough carbon dioxide," said Spalding.

The excess biomass naturally becomes starch through the photosynthesis process, and increases the biomass starch by around 80 percent.

By using some existing mutated genes, Spalding can instruct the algae to make oil instead of starch. This process requires more energy and the process results in around a 50 percent increase in oil biomass.

Spalding's research was funded in part by grants from the Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Department of Energy, Advanced Research Projects Agency -- Energy.

Original post available here.