Domestic Fuel

The developer of technology that turns algae in to renewable fuel is going down under to do some long-term testing of its process.

OriginOil recently announced the successful completion of the first phase of its commercial pilot program with Australian company, MBD Energy, OriginOil’s first customer and pilot partner. In this edition of the Domestic Fuel Cast, we talk to OriginOil’s CEO, Riggs Eckelberry, about his company’s testing of its algae-to-renewable-fuel technology in an in-the-field, real-world situation.

“We were looking for one of our pilot customers that would enable us to scale up our technology in real conditions.”

Eckelberry says his company’s bread and butter is focusing on extracting all that water from the algae and then extracting the oil by a process that he describes as “shocking” the algae. This testing should take several years with Eckelberry hoping at the end of the day, his technology will prove successful.

This announcement comes on the heels of the news that OriginOil has another project in the works, this time a little closer to home. The company will help build a new Advanced Algae Center with Sustainable Resources, Incorporated on the site of the original Aquatic Species Program in Roswell, New Mexico, scheduled to start sometime next year. Eckelberry jokes that they’ll even hold a job fair for any little green men who might be visiting Roswell to work at the facility.

Hear more from Eckelberry on both these projects in the Domestic Fuel Cast here. Domestic Fuel Cast

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