50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy candidate profile: Aquaflow Bionomic

50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy: Aquaflow Bionomic
Website

Based in: New Zealand
2008-09 ranking: #12

Business: Aquaflow has developed technology to harvest wild algae from municipal sewage ponds, farm outflows or rivers.  Aquaflow’s manufactures 40-feet containers which can be deployed in remote locations, and scaled. The company’s approach avoids upfront capital costs of other algae-based fuel technologies based on development of monocultures, ponds or bioreactors.

Model: Sale of equipment and remediated water sales. Interestingly, the company’s investor projections do not include revenue from the sale of green crude or carbon credits. However, the company has said that it can charge royalties, and produce revenue from the algae feedstock, green crude and other products that result from its process.

Past milestones:

1. The company has been running a pilot plant at the Blenheim District Sewage ponds in and has produced 40 tonnes of algae to date. As early as March ‘08 the company said that it had achieved commercial-scale algae harvest levels at its plant in Marlborough, and said that its new bioreactor installations were expected to bring the company to commercial-scale production of biocrude “within the next few months”.

2. By September ‘08, Aquaflow said it had produced its first batch of commercially competitive green crude oil made from algae oil. The crude oil product is made from wild algae grown on human sewage. Company executives said that the development was significant because the company could separate fuels such as diesel fuels, aviation fuels, and high-value chemicals, from a green crude product.

3. In October 2008, Aquaflow signed a partnership with Honeywell UOP to provide algal oil for conversion to drop-in jet fuel.

4. In July ‘09, Aquaflow and Solray Energy announced a partnership that will join Aquaflow’s technology for harvesting algae grown in wastewater to Solray’s algae to fuel conversion process. Solray, in turn, is a joint venture between solvent recovery firm Solvent Rescue and heating equipment manufacturer Rayners. At present, Solray converts about one-third of the algal biomass to bio-crude, but is researching improvements to its process.

5. Pure Power invested $3 million for a 19.9 percent stake in the company.

Future milestones:

1. Aquaflow Bionomics announced in August ‘09 that it has commenced a $2.09 million capital raise in Australia, the last private raise before an IPO expected in the next 12 months. It’s IPO will float 60 million shares and is expected to raise $20-$30 million. The company said it will use the funds to invest in R&D for its continuous flow algae production technology, which focuses on water remediation as well as fuel production. The company operates a prototype algae production facility in Blenheim, and has successfully tested harvest of wild algae.

2. Aquaflow said it is in discussions with 16 projects on three continents, including with municipal authorities and the private sector.

Metrics: Aquaflow’s investor presentation includes forecast revenue of $4.4 million in 2010/11, rising to A$94.4m in 2014/15.

Nick Gerritson (Director) quotable quotes: “It’s plug and play, we just plug into the existing infrastructure.”

The Hot 50 for 2009-10 will be released Tuesday, 12/1. Between now and then, you’ll see profiles of potential candidates in the Digest, and you’ll have a chance to vote for your favorites. Reader response will count for 50 percent of a company’s overall score in the preparation of the rankings. The remaining 50 percent is voted by a panel of experts.

Rules and procedures for the 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy rankings for 2009/10 are here.

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