Algae Appliance from OriginOil to help producers meet rising demand

Algae Appliance from OriginOil, set for commercial release in early 2012, has been developed to help producers process algae at low cost and without chemicals.

The commercial entry-level algae harvesting system provides a low energy, chemical-free, continuous flow 'wet harvest' system, with the potential to remove up to 90% of the initial water volume. Field testing will begin soon with select partners who have current or near-term large volumes of algae for harvesting. Interested parties should sign up at www.algaeappliance.com.

Larry Sirmans, Technical Director of OriginOil's Australian partner MBD Energy, said: "This Algae Appliance should be very beneficial to producers and researchers who are developing the most efficient processes for growing algae at commercial scale."

"We are continuing to scale up our technology at MBD's pilot site in Australia," said Bill Charneski, OriginOil Senior Director of Product Engineering. "Now, everything we have learned is going into a standardised entry-level system to help the worldwide algae industry meet the high demand for sustainable, low-cost algae production."

Algae Appliance was introduced at the 4th Algae World Asia conference in Beijing, China. It is modular and incorporates low-energy, chemical-free concentration and can 'crack' the microscopic algae cells for downstream processing needs. Energy requirements are extremely low, at about 0.002 kWh to process 10 L/min, the Algae Appliance's middle range of performance.

"Our Algae Appliance can process as little as 2 L/min, which is perfect for a small research installation," said Ken Reynolds, OriginOil's Vice President of Marketing. "But it is versatile enough to handle up to 10 times that rate, serving capacities of 100,000 L and more. And of course we'll make it easy for our customers to upgrade all the way to production scale."

"With algae-based fuels now being used in commercial aviation and in the military, there is tremendous pressure on our industry to deliver much lower-cost, high-volume algae products," said Riggs Eckelberry, OriginOil CEO. "The Algae Appliance is expected to answer this demand, and drive the eventual licensing and distribution of our technology worldwide."