Algae BioFuels: Companies In The Running

[OilAnalyst Biofuels Forum Newbie Find all posts View Profile Close OilAnalyst]

An oil company working in Australia in the Basin is a front runner in North America on the Algae BioDiesol front and is making big headway with production in this area. Some tidbits, news and background are below.

BioDiesol from algae is becoming a very real application and is being tested and used to produce on mass scales. The left over algae is used for animal feed and these can be set up all over the world.

One company that is the leader in this department is PetroSun a publicly traded company trading under the symbol: (OTC: PSUD)

Petrosun has already began to set up a large facility in the State of Alabama and is working with the University directly. More info can be found at: PetroSun

PetroSun, Incorporated (PINKSHEETS: PSUD) announced today that the Company has filed the Articles of Incorporation for AL-G-BAMA, Incorporated with the State of Alabama. The Company was formed as the result of recent meetings with officials from the State of Alabama, Auburn University and private interests regarding the cultivation of algae for the purpose of biofuel and animal feed production within the state. PetroSun holds an eighty percent equity position in AL-G-BAMA with the balance held by private parties from Alabama.

The initial pilot plant will be located in Opelika, Alabama. The purpose of this facility is to test both open and closed algae growth systems for commercial viability. The Company will also test extraction and refining technology from several manufacturers during the field trials.
Algae BioFuels, a PetroSun wholly owned subsidiary, will license technology to AL-G-BAMA and joint operate the facility with the other equity partners.

This could be a very interesting company to follow as developments unfold.

[rherber1 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close rherber1]

Re: Algae BioFuels: Companies In The Running

Bio-diesel from algae looks to be very promising if the costs of growing and extraction can be similar to normal land based crops.

This article UNH Biodiesel Group estimates that the current total US transportation fuel requirement could be harvested from a single plot of 15,000 sq miles or about 1/8th the area of the Sonora desert. While it would not be carried out in one location, it does mean that not a whole lot of space would be needed in order to produce a lot of bio-diesel. Algae farms could run on waste run-off from farms, using animal manure etc for nutrient and would not take up high quality land required for food production.

[digifish Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close digifish]

Re: Algae BioFuels: Companies In The Running

Thanks for this, most interesting.

What are the waste by-products from the algae approach?

digifish

[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

Re: Algae BioFuels: Companies In The Running

digifish,
The products from algal oil production are:

• Oil,
• Dried algal solids

The dried solids can be used as stock feed, or as nutrient for the algae ponds.

It is interesting to note that the nutrients taken from the soil by oil seed crops are virtually all returned to the soil by returning all of the solids after oil extraction (ie, the oil is created from water and the CO2 from the air, not from the nutrients). Thus no additional fertiliser is needed for a second crop. There may be limitations which affect to long term use of this technique (pathogens, contaminants, etc?), but if it works for soil based crops, it should have similar applications in algae ponds.

[digifish Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close digifish]

Re: Algae BioFuels: Companies In The Running

Thanks Tony, good to know.

With all that water, sunshine and space up in the Kimberlies, this should be a no-brainer

digifish

[TroyH Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close TroyH]

Re: Algae BioFuels: Companies In The Running

There is actually research going on in WA researching Biodiesel from Algae.

[Slippery Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Slippery]

Re: Algae BioFuels: Companies In The Running

Some of the companies that are researching biofuels from algae that I have come across include:

Greenfuels and Solix Biofuels in USA.
Aquaflow in NZ
and RIRDC in Adelaide
and I am busy in Brisbane.

There are a lot of others all over the world but few are advertising any progress because we all realize that if we can crack the problems of commercial propogation, the potential rewards are huge.

[Flubber Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Flubber]

Re: Algae BioFuels: Companies In The Running

Just an update on this company and a request for any further information on the Australian activities?

PetroSun, Inc. announced that the Board of Directors of Algae BioFuels, a wholly owned subsidiary of PetroSun, has issued the exclusive algae to biofuel production technology license to PetroSun BioFuels for the Australasian market.

Sourced at: Algae BioFuels Issues Australasia License to PetroSun BioFuels

Apparently the Australian operations are in Queensland. Anybody able to shed more light on this story? Looks interesting if algae becomes the commercial biodiesel feedstock of choice.
Cheers!