Algae Movers and Shakers: Origin Oil

One of the pleasant “shocker” industry announcements this spring came from OriginOil, in revealing a one-step process for algae dewatering and oil extraction.

Last month, the company said that it had filed a Patent Cooperation Treaty application for a system that provides efficient light utilization with comparatively low energy cost in algae photobioreactors.

The system provides light at closely spaced intervals within a photobioreactor so that light is provided throughout the photobioreactor rather than just at the surface and at the interfaces between culture medium and photobioreactor wall.

The invention addresses challenging problems in the culturing of microalgae, including high energy utilization, fouling of light emitting surfaces, and diurnal growth cycles.  The systems and methods are useful in applications such as energy production, fuels, foods, pharmaceuticals, plastics, and CO2 fixation.  Also described are systems and methods for lysing (rupturing) cells and extracting their components, and for producing electricity with closed-loop CO2 recycling.

Free Subscription to the Daily Biofuels Digest e-newsletter

Related Stories

Algae Movers and Shakers: Algal Biomass Organization (ABO)

More than 600 people attended the last annual ABO summit, and up to 1000 are expected at this year's meeting in San Diego in October, bringing together many of the best-known phycologists, producers a...

Algae Movers and Shakers: National Algae Association

The NAA evokes passion among its membership of algae innovators, which includes both end-users and producers and ranges from pre-seed start-ups through to high-visibility companies such as Sapphire En...

Algae Movers and Shakers: AlgaeVenture Systems

AlgaeVenture Systems leapt into the public eye earlier this year with a dewatering solution that it said could reduce the cost of dewatering by as much as 98 percent compared to centrifuging. Digest s...

Algae Movers and Shakers: CAAFI

The Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuel Initiative doesn't get as much publicity as other organizations, but it's well worth following. Last October, the CAAFI environmental team established a lifecy...

The Top 10 Biofuels Stories of 2008: #2, Algae

Algae bloomed in 2008, with Sapphire Energy raising $100 million in funding and providing fuel for the January 2009 Continental Airlines test flight. Origin Oil, PetroAlgae, Solazyme, Aquaflow Bion...

Algae Movers and Shakers: Solix Biofuels

After a quiet start to the year, closed system photobioreactor pioneer Solix Biofuels completed its $16.8 million Series A capital funding that added Shanghai Alliance Investment to its group. Proceed...