OOIL: Introducing the algae growers starter kit

OriginOil (OOIL) has announced the Algae Appliance:

Ian Gilson, CFA

On November 16, 2011 at the 4th Algae World Asia Conference in Beijing, China OriginOil introduced the "Algae Appliance", a commercial entry level algae harvesting system. This system offers algae producers a low cost, low energy chemical free method that has the potential of removing 90% of the initial water volume used in growing the algae. The Algae Appliance will be available after field testing is complete in the first half of next year.

The Algae Appliance embodies the company's integrated Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) control system and would be an excellent test bed for OriginOil's full sized system.

Details from the conference and from the company's web site are shown below.

Algae Appliance

Designed to facilitate the testing of algae harvesting process scale-up from laboratory to pilot scale, the Algae Appliance™ provides a low energy, chemical-free, continuous flow ‘wet harvest’ system to efficiently dewater, compromise cell walls, and concentrate dilute microalgae in suspension.

Control Panel View View from Discharge Side

The Algae Appliance flow rate is variable from 2 to 20 liters per minute (.5 to 5 GPM), with the potential to remove up to 90% of the initial water volume at the harvesting stage. The system is extremely well suited for testing aimed at the development of commercial scale processes, in that it provides these features and benefits:

Features	Advantages	Savings In CAPEX and OPEX
Feed Algae water directly from growth system	No pre-concentrating dewatering required	Eliminates conflicts in downstream refining, processing or biomass usage
Dewatering uses electromagnetic pulses and biomass concentrator	No added chemicals in process	Eliminates conflicts in downstream refining, processing or biomass usage
Low energy electromagnetic pulses to compromise algae cells	Total energy less than one kWh per cubic meter	Maximizes the release of lipids with low energy and without chemicals
Integrated biomass concentrator	Removes up to 90% of the water from the algae	Savings in OPEX by removing most of the water early in the process
High continuous throughput	Scalable and efficient	Reduced CAPEX and OPEX
Skid mounted modules	Easy Installation	Savings in installation cost Process Overview

Process Overview

The Algae Appliance is typically located on premises at the algae growth facility. When ready for harvesting, the dilute microalgae culture is fed directly from the growth systems into the Algae Appliance without any prior pretreatment or concentration. Each system is equipped with its own integrated Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) control system, along with sensors which monitor various characteristics of the input and output streams. The SCADA unit’s control algorithms manage the operational settings for flocculation (algae aggregation) and for compromising of algae cell walls (cell lysing). As the dilute suspension passes through the Algae Appliance it is subjected to tuned electromagnetic pulses. The system operation consists of three phases:

• First phase: low-energy, chemical-free flocculation.
• Second phase: concentration to remove up to 90% of the water.
• Third phase (optional): cell wall compromise (“cracking”) for downstream availability.

Optional devices are available to achieve higher solids concentration downstream from the Algae Appliance.

Product Specifications

• Flow Rates: Variable based upon operator controlled settings:
• Minimum: 2 LPM (0.5 GPM) – processing 3,000 liters per day in continuous harvest.
• Maximum: 20 LPM (5 GPM) – processing 30,000 liters per day in continuous harvest.*
• *(Sufficient for a 150,000 liter growth facility at 20% daily harvest)
• Microalgae concentration: Wide flexibility from less than 125mg to 1g/liter dry weight and beyond.
• Dimensions: Length 214cm, width 152cm, height 214cm (L 7’-0”, W 5’-0”, H 7’-0”).
• Weight: 1,140 kg (2,500 pounds).
• Electrical requirements: 120/240 volts, 50/60 hertz.
• Power consumption: Approximately 0.002 kWh at 10 LPM.

Additional Product Features

• Sensor telemetry with touch screen software for real-time control.
• Remote support by OriginOil technicians (requires support contract).
• Tunable to a wide range of fresh and saltwater microalgae species.
• Mounted on single skid for ease of transport and installation.
• Applicable to all growth platforms.

Original post available here.

Algae Powered Ex-Destroyer

PACIFIC OCEAN (Nov. 17, 2011) The decommissioned Spruance-class destroyer ex-Paul F. Foster (EDD 964) conducts a successful demonstration of shipboard alternative fuel use while underway in the Pacific Ocean on a 50-50 blend of an algae-derived, hydro-processed algal oil and petroleum F-76. Paul F. Foster has been reconfigured as the Self-Defense Test Ship to provide the Navy an at-sea, remotely controlled, engineering test and evaluation platform without the risk to personnel or operational assets. (U.S. Navy photo by Charlie Houser)

Original post available here.

NSWC Port Hueneme’s test ship demos alternative fuel

Alyce Moncourtois

Photo by Photo by Charlie Houser, NSWC Port Hueneme.

NSWC Port Hueneme’s Self Defense Test Ship, ex-USS Paul F. Foster (EDD 964), transits the Pacific Ocean to conduct a test of an alternative fuel blend made of 50 percent hydro-processed algae oil and 50 percent F-76 petroleum on Nov. 17.

The Self Defense Test Ship, an asset of the U.S. Navy located at Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Port Hueneme, successfully conducted the largest maritime alternative fuel demonstration to date Nov. 16-17. The ship traveled with approximately 20,000 gallons of a 50-50 blend of hydro-processed algae oil and F-76 petroleum to power one propulsion gas turbine and one ship service gas turbine. The ship began its short, overnight journey from the fueling station at Point Loma, San Diego, and ended at her homeport in Port Hueneme.

The success of the biofuel test was described by the ship’s Underway Project Officer Mike Wolfe.

“The biggest success is that this de-commissioned Navy test ship with engines identical to those in commissioned warships operated successfully on an overnight transit with this biofuel without a glitch,” said Wolfe. “There were absolutely no changes in operations during this test - the fuel burned just like the fuel we get from the Navy that we’ve been burning for years. You could not tell the difference.”

The ship that conducted the test is the Paul F. Foster, a de-commissioned Spruance-class destroyer now used for test and evaluation of combat and weapon systems prior to their use in the U.S. naval fleet. Known as the “test ship,” she is operated by NSWC Port Hueneme and managed by the Program Executive Office for Integrated Warfare Systems in Washington, D.C.

Data was collected during the overnight transit and will be analyzed for results.

“As far as the data goes,” said Wolfe, “it will be taken back to Naval Air Station Patuxent River for analysis and we’ll know exactly how much hotter or cooler we ran; if we got better mileage; and if we put out more or less carbon monoxide.”

This test of alternative fuel for the U.S. Navy supports the secretary of the Navy’s energy target to demonstrate a Green Strike Group by 2012, and deploy a strike group composed completely of alternatively powered ships, “the Great Green Fleet,” by 2016.

It also supports the Navy’s overall strategy to enhance energy security and environmental stewardship, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Ultimately, the goal is to develop and certify alternative fuels that can be included as an alternative to NATO F-76 specification – naval marine distillate-shipboard standard. This supports the secretary of the Navy’s goal of energy independence by securing a non-foreign based source for fuel and reduces the demand for non-renewable fossil fuels.

With three key strategies in mind, the Navy is moving forward to meet its goals:

1. energy security is critical to mission success

2. energy efficiency increases mission effectiveness

3. environmental stewardship protects mission capabilities

Wolfe commented on future alternative fuel testing.

“There are additional alternative fuels to use in the future and improvements to the algae-based fuel that we’re using, so we may be seeing this in the next year or two.”

NSWC Port Hueneme is a field activity of Naval Sea Systems Command and provides the global U.S. Navy fleet with weapon system in-service engineering, logistics, and test and evaluation. Commanded by Capt. Bill DeBow of the U.S. Navy, NSWC Port Hueneme is located at Naval Base Ventura County, Calif., where it employs more than 1,900 personnel.

Original post available here.

Health Enhancement Products, Inc. Expands Scientific Inquiry at Battelle as Isolated Molecules Are Tested for Bioactivity

SCOTTSDALE, AZ, Nov 18, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- The board directors of Health Enhancement Products, Inc. HEPI +13.33% , a Scottsdale, AZ-based food ingredients and nutraceutical enterprise, has authorized an expanded study of its algae extracts. Since May of 2011, the Company has been working with Battelle, the world's largest independent research and development organization, to isolate the active molecules in its proprietary algae extract, specifically those natural compounds responsible for supporting a healthy cholesterol balance. Over the intervening months, Battelle research scientists have conducted a series of experiments to separate bioactive fractions of the algae extract in order to isolate and further characterize the bioactive components.

That program has resulted in a number of isolates that can now be tested in vivo. The in vivo portion of this expanded research project will be carried out in several steps. The in vivo study is expected to commence in several days. The isolated samples will be administered to test subjects over the course of 30 days, after which an evaluation process would identify those samples with bioactivity. Battelle scientists would subject those samples to further refinement and validation, or proceed directly to a final analysis.

In February of 2011, Health Enhancement had filed a global PCT patent application specifically detailing the method of cholesterol regulation. In October of 2010, the Company had been issued a US patent for its unique and novel method of extracting the active compounds from its proprietary algae culture. The Company expects to file several additional patent applications in the next two months to protect its growing intellectual property portfolio.

"Health Enhancement Products is committed to seeing this research program through to its ultimate conclusion," states board chairman Stephen Warner. "Following the anticipated success of this research work, we expect to embark on a product development program to establish marketable applications for the derivatives of these natural products."

The Company intends to move forward with a product development plan created by consulting group Great Northern & Reserve Partners. Details of the plan will be released as specific benchmarks and milestones are reached over the course of the next few months.

Philip M. Rice II, the Company's newly appointed Chief Financial Officer, is pleased with the new developments. "We're entering a new era," states Mr. Rice. "The process of managing the research and funding its progress are being streamlined and re-focused. We can look forward to a regular timetable of announcements and real progress on several fronts."

About Health Enhancement Products, Inc.

Health Enhancement Products, Inc. HEPI +13.33% is a health & wellness company engaged in the development of natural products derived from algae cultures for use as dietary supplements and food ingredients. These natural products are extracted from living algae grown in purified water.

About Battelle

As the world's largest independent research and development organization, Battelle provides innovative solutions to the world's most pressing needs through its four global businesses: Laboratory Management; National Security; Health and Life Sciences; and Energy, Environment, and Material Sciences. It advances scientific discovery and application by conducting $6.5 billion in global R&D annually through contract research, laboratory management, and technology commercialization. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Battelle oversees 22,000 employees in more than 130 locations worldwide, including seven national laboratories which Battelle manages or co-manages for the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and a nuclear energy lab in the United Kingdom.

Battelle also is of the nation's leading charitable trusts focusing on societal and economic impact and actively supporting and promoting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

Safe Harbor Statement

Except for any historical information, the matters discussed in this press release contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ from those indicated in the forward-looking statements, including the timing of completion of a trial, actual future clinical trial results being different than the results the company has obtained to date, and the company's ability to secure funding. Such statements are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties. Readers are cautioned that such statements are not guarantees of future performance and those actual results or developments may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information or otherwise.

Original post available here.

Entrepreneur brews up algae to slake energy demand

By TOM JACKSON | The Tampa Tribune

NEW PORT RICHEY --

Transportation costs are much on our minds these days as we contemplate the wallet-lightening experience of going home — wherever that is — for Thanksgiving. Airfare is breathtaking and, according to AAA, regular gasoline is 51 cents higher than it was last year. (We'd mention trains and buses, but you almost can't get from here to there on either.)

What we would like to believe, knees buckling as we retrieve the receipt from our latest fill-up, is the solution to all our energy demands — ideally, the clean, green, renewable, domestic and economical solution — is within our grasp.

I mean, we've all seen the stories about the truck fueled on recycled French fry oil and the annual competition among solar-powered cars built by college kids. Nonetheless, to get from here to there, we're still burning Jurassic Period plant life. What's the holdup?

Dean Tsoupeis hopes to provide an answer. Indeed, he hopes to provide the answer.

If, as the un-degreed former owner of a screen-printing company, Tsoupeis (soo-PACE) seems an unlikely candidate to solve the unquenchable energy demands of 7 billion busy humans, well, David made an unlikely foil for Goliath, and he didn't have a college education, either.

* * * * *

What Tsoupeis has had since his days at Northeast High School in St. Petersburg is a passion for entrepreneurial environmentalism. Now 40, he is seven years past the epiphany that led him to the brink, potentially, of producing something big out of something microscopically small.

The epiphany dawned as Tsoupeis sat out a red light behind a large diesel truck choking on exhaust that poured through the vents of his broken air conditioner. There had to be a better way, he muttered to himself. Well, who hasn't? But unlike the rest of us, Tsoupeis vowed to identify and produce a marketable solution.

Fast forward seven years to a scruffy patch of land on a gravel lane next to a tree farm off Ridge Road. Here, having huddled persistently with scientists and engineers in the field of biofuels, Tsoupeis' company, Tampa-based Culturing Solutions, has established the "Phyta-Platform Photobioreactor."

That would be, in layman's terms, an algae farm. Not just any algae farm, mind you, but one designed to grow it in prodigious, robust, pristine crops at virtually any latitude — 300 percent faster than previously existing technology.

The process, unveiled Thursday, involves a circulating pump, racks of UV-resistant pipe, a silicon membrane that dissolves CO2 into the solution containing the algae — algae devour the stuff — and a hot-house pond.

Computer sensors deliver constant updates and allow the caretaker to address the system's needs remotely. This isn't your granddad's algae farm.

* * * * *

OK, but why algae? To hear Tsoupeis rhapsodize, there's almost nothing it can't do. Introduced into the primordial soup, algae sucked up CO2 and expelled oxygen, creating the atmosphere that made the planet safe for more sophisticated air-breathing creatures. Now, he says, "Algae may save the atmosphere."

Properly (and, for the moment, expensively) processed, the system laid out across 1,000 acres would produce 30,000 gallons of bio-oil annually, Tsoupeis projects. Add any number of useful byproducts, from livestock feed to nutraceuticals (food additives that provide health or medical benefits) to manufacturing and cosmetic ingredients, and there's virtually nothing, it seems, that algae can't do.

Small wonder, then, that Tsoupeis' system has attracted investors from as far away as India and South Africa.

Of course, its sexiness is in its potential for endless supplies of biofuel. As to that, Tsoupeis concedes there are practical hurdles to clear. But it's nothing $130-a-barrel crude oil and universal carbon caps couldn't hurry along.

In the meantime, he is counting on technology improvements and economies of scale to bring the cost of algae-oil production into line with, if not beat, current crop-driven fuels and fuel supplements, such as ethanol.

All of which is to say, we're stuck, this Thanksgiving, with the fuels of the 20th century. But if Tsoupeis is right, the day we think the same way about fossil fuels and buggy whips may be closer than over the river and through the woods.

Original post available here.