Indian army looks to algae

The Indian army is considering bio-fuel from alage as a way to reduce its dependency on fossil fuel. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) - the research wing of the Indian armed forces, is experimenting with bio-fuel for its military vehicles.

"From our existing literature we have identified at least 40 species of algae from which bio-fuel could be extracted. Experiments are going on and we hope to come with some interesting finds very soon," said Sashi Bala Singh, director of the Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS).

Research is underway to identify a fast-growing species suitable for bio-fuel.

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Biofuels work at Argonne (Photo credit: Argonne National Laboratory)

World's first alage-to-energy facility operational

Sapphire Energy, Inc. has announced that the first phase of its Green Crude Farm, the world’s first commercial demonstration algae-to-energy facility, is now operational. When completed, the facility will produce 1.5 million gallons per year of crude oil and consist of approximately 300 acres of algae cultivation ponds and processing facilities.  Read more...

Algae Pond (Photo credit: PNNL - Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

Algae as jet oil?

We could soon be flying on jets powered by algae thanks to a new US plant which can convert moist algae into biofuel.

Pacific Algae Oil, which is made up of the Algae International Group and Pacific Oil Products,

uses wastewater from dairies to produce the algae.  Read more...

This is not the first time algae has been earmarked for aviation.  In 2009, a Continental Boeing 737-800 went on a 90-minute test flight using algae biofuel.  Read more...  

Continental Airlines Boeing 737-800 N71411 departing LAX. (Photo credit: Wikipedia).  Used for illustration purposes only

OriginOil ships its first algae harvester

OriginOil has shipped the first production model of its Algae Appliance harvester to Paris-based Ennesys, in an urban algae joint venture. The programme aims to demonstrate that algae can help achieve eco-sustainability for large building complexes. OriginOil’s entry-level Algae Appliance, the Model 4, is designed to process up to four litres of dilute algae water per minute without the use of chemicals, into an algae concentrate.

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Algae, 600x (Photo credit: smaller.pathological.ca)

Promising news for algae super strain

A freak discovery of a super strain of algae could create a new biofuels industry in Australia.  Read more...

Reliefmap of Australia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Aurora Algae invests in algae bio-diesel

Aurora Algae has tripled the amount of money it wants to spend on a commercial algae bio-diesel plant in Karratha, Western Australia.

The company announced a $100 million expansion of its demonstration facility earlier in 2012 but  thanks good performance, the money has been upped to $300 million.

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English: Aerial view of Karratha, Western Australia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)