Algae to be Focus of BIO’s Pacific Rim Summit
Leading researchers and companies looking to turn algae into biofuels will meet in Hawaii next month to talk about progress and challenges with the green-slime-into-green-fuel process.
The Biotechnology Industry Organization’s (BIO) 2009 Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy will be held Nov. 8-11, 2009 in Honolulu:
Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO’s Industrial and Environmental Section, said, “Algae is seen as a promising source of raw material for biofuels, but it also could become a workhorse for producing ethanol, chemical, protein and food ingredients. As companies work to achieve the full potential of algae for fuels and chemicals, they’ll face the same challenges and opportunities as other biotechnology companies. The Pacific Rim Summit provides an opportunity for startup companies to present the state of their research and development, share their experiences and network with one another and with other biotechnology companies.”
The summit is expected to bring together government officials, private companies and members of academia, including presentation from Valerie Reed with the US Department of Energy, Jonathan Wolfson of Solazyme, Bertrand Vick from Aurora Biofuels, David Bayless of Ohio University, and Jeff Muhs, Utah State University.
3 Comments »
anonymous
We have spent over $2.2 billion dollars on algae research for the last 35 years and nothing to show for it. Algae has been researched to death at universities for the last 50 years in the US. The problem is as long as the algae researchers can say we are 3-5 years away, its too expensive and they need more research they get the grant money.
There are commercial algae plants being built today with private money without any federal money and federal grants. The question you need to be asking is ” Does the US really want to get off of foreign oil or do we want to continue to fund the algae researchers at the universities.” The problem is we can grow, harvest and extract algae today with all “off-the-shelf” proven technology. We no not need genetic modification at all when there are existing algae strains currently on the market with 30-60% oil content.
Look at the massive amounts given to universities for research nationwide vs. no monies given for real algae production companies in the US.
We need monies going into algae oil production and stop wasting money on research. Algae researchers are incapable of commercializing anything!
Louis Landesman
Nice to hear your frank comments regarding algae research. Algae is unlikely to contribute much to the energy needs of the US or replace imported oil and gas. However it could make a great contribution to replace fish meal and fish oil and help boost aquaculture and aquaponics. Research going on in algae at most US universities is focused more on theoretical subkects than applied uses. Money for algae production should come from private banks and other lenders like any other agricultural enterprise. Until algae producers can show that they can make money from producing algae it will be hard to get private sector fiancial support.
Phil Crawford
A point often missed in disscussions of algae is that it offers much more than a relatively expensive source of lipids and protein. Algae can also be used as a bio-filter for water. As a part of the waste water infrastructure, algae can remove toxic substances that conventional treatment cannot without the energy costs of reverse osmosis. Filtered water would be simple and safe to reclaim. The by-product would be biomass that could be used in a variety of ways.
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