OriginOil completes first phase of biofuel development agreement with Idaho National Laboratory

7 October 2009

Biofuel developer OriginOil has completed the first phase of a cooperative research and development agreement with the US Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory. The company previously developed technology that would transform algae into a renewable oil source that would compete with petroleum.

OriginOil has worked with Idaho National Laboratory to develop a process model for the commercial production of algae for biofuels and other products. The first phase focused on developing the company’s productivity model recently presented to the National Algae Association’s Quarterly Forum in Houston, Texas.

Idaho National Laboratory researchers provided core data on the projected efficiency and recovery values for the various steps involved in the algae-growing process, including lipid and biomass production from algae.

‘Algae represent a potential key biomass resource for a sustainable bioenergy industry,’ said Tom Ulrich, Idaho National Laboratory senior advisory scientist. ‘Collaboration with OriginOil has been encouraging, especially the modeling of their algae growth and production process.’

Riggs Eckelberry, the CEO of OriginOil, added, ‘The new algae industry needed a comprehensive economic model to ramp up quickly.’ He added, ‘Idaho National Laboratory has played an integral part in our efforts to quantify the performance of key steps within the OriginOil algae production system.’

The results of the first phase represent the first-ever productivity model for algae production. OriginOil plans to publish specialised calculators on the company’s website, and will make the detailed model available to researchers.

According to the company, phase two will focus on further process validation, economic modeling and improved biomass logistics for the scale up of algae biomass production. The deliverables for additional phases will include the biological and chemical feedstock evaluation needed for systems integration design and scale-up demonstration. This work will identify and incorporate minor feeds such as trace nutrients for algae, recycle streams, intermediate storage, utilities, and waste streams. Equipment sizes and the appropriate number of parallel units will also be determined, resulting in a more robust economic analysis of industrial scale systems.

Copyright © 2009 NewNet

Tags: biofuel

This story was published on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 3:27 pm and is filed under North America, biomass/biofuel, companies. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “OriginOil completes first phase of biofuel development agreement with Idaho National Laboratory”

1. htomfields says:

   8 October 2009 at 3:52 pm

   You can learn more about Idaho National Laboratory’s research projects and job opportunities on the facebook site. http://www.facebook.com/idahonationallaboratory

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