Aquaflow Algae

Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation (ABC), Melbourne, New Zealand, states on its website: The world is expected to move from the cultivation of corn and sugar cane for energy purposes to the cultivation of marine algae.  Aquaflow has set itself the objective to be the first company in the world to economically produce biofuel from wild algae harvested from open-air environments, to market it, and meet the challenge of increasing demand.

They are trying to simplify the algae to biooil process used by most others in the field by collecting wild algae growing in open-air sludge ponds and waste streams.

UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, and Aquaflow have signed a memorandum of understanding to convert wild algae into fuel products using UOP’s processes and to develop a carbon dioxide sequestration storage model for Aquaflow’s algal oil production facilities.

The companies will also study the feasibility of sequestering carbon dioxide from a refinery or power plant and adding it to wastewater streams in an effort to boost the productivity of the wild algae population.

Aquaflow currently sources its wild algae from oxidation ponds in Marlborough, New Zealand. It doesn’t add carbon dioxide to the wastewater.

“We have now achieved commercial scale continuous harvesting of tonnes of wild algae at the Marlborough oxidation ponds so we can take the step up to commercial scale production of biocrude,” said Aquaflow chairman, Barrie Leay in March.

In September Aquaflow announced it had produced the world’s first  of green-crude, a crude-oil equivalent, from wild algae

ABC harvests algae directly from the settling ponds of standard Effluent Management Systems and other nutrient-rich water. The process can be used in many industries that produce a waste stream, including the transport, dairy, meat and paper industries.

The two-step process firstly optimises the ponds' productive capacity, and secondly, determines the most efficient and economic way of harvesting the pond algae. Algae are provided with full opportunity to exploit the nutrients available in the settling ponds, thereby cleaning up the water. The algae are then harvested to remove the remaining contaminant. A last stage of bio-remediation, still in development, will ensure that the water discharge from the process exceeds acceptable quality standards.

Leay further commented, “An extraordinarily beneficial by-product of the Aquaflow process is potentially releasing a clean water resource of millions of litres of clean water - to be recycled and available for use in irrigation, industrial washing, cooling, and so on.”

The United States Department of Energy estimates that if algae fuel replaced all the petroleum fuel in the United States, it would require 15,000 square miles (40,000 square kilometers), which is a few thousand square miles larger than Maryland, or 1.3 Belgiums. This is less than 1/7th the area of corn harvested in the United States in 2000.

Other recent activities in the algae to oil industry, as reported by Biofuels Digest, include;

• In Texas, PetroSun will open the first US commercial-scale algae farm for biofuels near South Padre Island. The 1,831 acre site includes 157 separate ponds, and the company said that extraction of algae from water and oil from algae were studied and solved at the company’s pilot farm in Opelika, Alabama.
• In the Netherlands, AlgaeLink announced a new process for extracting algae oil without using chemicals, drying or an oil press. The company said that its patent-pending technique uses 26 kilowatts of power to produce 12,000 gallons of algae oil per hour, with a yield of 50 percent from the initial algae paste.
• In Texas, the state’s Emerging Technology Fund will provide $4 million to Texas AgriLife Research and General Atomics to conduct microalgae research and development.
• In Virginia, researchers at Old Dominion University have successfully piloted a project to produce biodiesel feedstock by growing algae at municipal sewage treatment plants. The researchers hope that these algae production techniques could lead to reduced emissions of nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon dioxide into the air and surrounding bodies of water. The pilot project is producing up to 70,000 gallons of biodiesel per year.
• In Minnesota, Xcel Energy has pledged $150,000 to assist in funding an algae-to-biodiesel research project sponsored by the University and the Metropolitan Council. The grant is a follow-on to more than $4.5 million given to five other University of Minnesota projects from the Xcel Energy Renewable Development Fund.
• The US Department of Energy recently partnered with Chevron in a research effort to develop higher-yield strains of micro algae. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is working on a project with Honeywell, General Electric and the University of North Dakota.
• In Texas, US Sustainable Energy is awaiting lab results from a test of biocrude production using 20 pounds of algae as a feedstock. The company recently ran its initial test of 20 pounds of 5% oil-content algae feedstock with 40 percent water content, and resulted in an ignitable oil product.
• In Arizona, PetroSun BioFuels Refining recently signed a joint venture to develop and operate a 30 Mgy algae biodiesel facility in Coolidge. Construction was projected to commence in the third quarter of this year. Late last fall, PetroSun announced a letter of intent to supply 54 million gallons of algal oil to a new 54 Mgy Bio-Alternatives biodiesel plant in south Louisiana. The initial delivery to Bio-Alternatives refinery was to be in the third quarter of 2008.

Comments

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Biofuel from wild algae reminds me of a news report of a guy testing salt water as a basic tool for fuel!

[Solar Panel]

Looks like a twofold benefit - algae to absorb and reduce carbon and renewable energy to boot. I just wonder how feasible it is.

[dsi r4]

Its real time for an update on Aquaflow, the Blenheim algae company have frequently covered on Hot Topic this year. Things are continue to look forward for it in the world outside NZ. Its discussions with other companies will work...

[dsi r4]

I am very thankful to you you give me very nice and useful information I am farmer and this information is useful for me lot and your idea is also appriciable.

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it is great to know we now have other alternative sources of energy now that oil is raising it's prices every week and we got no control over it. i just hope that we don't abused it like other resources that once were abundant

[BPM,Australia]

One development I find interesting is that people seem to have abandoned closed systems..............

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good topic

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very good

thank you

[Anbu]

we can be sure that the international demand for renewable fuels will continue to grow.

[Anbu]

Thanks for this information...Good post too..

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This is very exciting to see during my lifetime. The question I have is that how many gallons of oil are required to produce one gallon of this bio fuel? I have heard that it usually isn't cost effective.

We need to find an alternative fuel for our cars and automobiles. Let's hope that they make quick progress.

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Thank you for the sensible info about Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation. I was preparing to do some research about that. Even got a good magazine on that matter and but the info was not as influensive as your post. I am very glad to see such information which I was searching for a long time.

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I think the process can be used in many industries that produce a waste stream, including the transport, dairy, meat and paper industries.

[Lifepath Unlimited]

I've been following Aquaflow and its competitors' progress in this industry and while it sounds encouraging, I think there are some major challenges similar to other alternative fuels with the energy required to produce/harvest algae so the net benefit may be less than people realize. I'm hopeful though!

[Bowtrol]

This is an eye opener for me.Great post

[Thyromine]

There is a lot I don`t know.I live nearby and I didn`t really know about this.

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I don't know so deeply about this matter, your blog is really very interesting or useful. this process is also useful to keep the environmental balance.

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Powerful and awesome technology.

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[Helenhunt]

I think this can work. I am very excited to see what happens with this. This could be the wave of the future. Thanks a bunch, Rick L.

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Yes! I've been waiting for news like these!

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[Bio-Diesel-Dan]

bio-diesel from algae sounds good, but we are still waiting for the reality. We will probably end up releasing some mutant algae that will clog the oceans killing everything - BUT we will have plenty of fuel!

[Wartrol]

This was truely a great article. I realy like it ans I think its the best I have come across. Thanks.

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This kind of news is what I need right now. Thanks buddy.

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[michael]

Oil from algae? seems to be a good concept.

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Hope the research will be beneficial.

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Americans have been able to reduce that number. While we imported 10 million barrels per day, a number that has been steady for several years, our total oil consumption figure averaged 15 million barrels per day, down from twenty-five years ago.
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I hardly comment on blogs but this was truely a useful information to me and I just want to say thanks for sharing.

[Scientific Indonesia]

http://www.scientificindonesia.co.cc/1_16_Biofuel-from-Algae.html

...So algae is Australia’s technology of preference and appears to be driven by the Government’s overzealous support of geosequestration. As with completing technologies, it will still face scale-up hurdles; but, with willing providers of carbon dioxide feedstock and cheap land and solar resources aplenty, large scale facilities may well be built within the next five years.

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This is very impressive technology. Now a days American also seach on this technology. Aquaflow will focus on expanding the algae biomass processing options it has available to deliver user-ready biofuels.

[shotgunsusie]

the gulf of mexico killed off by corexit and methane gas from oil spilling would make a grand pond to grow their algae in wouldnt it??

follow the money, look who all is invested in it. talk about conspiracy.

[Colon Cleanse]

I want to say that after reading your post I have found so many interesting thing in your blog and I really love that. Keep up the good work!

[J. Drago]

I think this was a huge projects with that company. It should be very beneficial to neighborhood.

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i agree with this answer "Americans have been able to reduce that number. While we imported 10 million barrels per day, a number that has been steady for several years, our total oil consumption figure averaged 15 million barrels per day, down from twenty-five years ago."

[Emerald Energy]

This is one of the most fascinating types of renewable energy out there. Algae is certainly going to play a large part of the foreseeable future.

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Damn...What a Great Article !

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Nice information, many thanks to the author. It is incomprehensible to me now, but in general, the usefulness and significance is overwhelming. Thanks again and good luck!

[Strompreisvergleich]

This is very impressive technology. Now a days American also seach on this technology. BUT we will have plenty of fuel!

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Thats the issue though - biofuel might be better for the environment but its the cost... it'll be great when it can be refined a little more and have a lower cost.

[Dermitage]

Love the fact that we are so environmentally conscious. I welcome all new technology that will help us.

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This is a great blog! Keep the awareness alive!

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Looking forward to see how this technology progresses. To bad we aren't spending more time and energy on things like this as opposed to war.

[Jahranimo]

Sometimes i wonder if we really understand the importance of using natural resources and being more independent. Go green! http://www.buygreenenergy.org

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your right Extenze it is 15 million barrels and now it is down

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I think someone needs to come up with a way to generate power from rare earth magnets. Some magnets have over 1000 pounds of pulling power. You would think there would be a way to use that natural power to create some type of alternator that makes electricity.

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Well I think that its still helpful to try to create as much alternate sources of power as we can, but in the end its that oil thats IN EVERYTHING... Its used in the keyboard your typing on and even in the tires on your car, 8 GALLONS or so... So if you wanna try to run your car on algae at some time instead of gas...you may wanna think about tires too...