Representatives of AlgaeBio announced last week that Evodos B.V., a Dutch manufacturer of centrifugal systems, has made a gift of a state-of-the-art centrifuge to Dr. Mark Edwards, vice president of Corporate Development and Marketing at AlgaeBio. The company, located in the Adamana area northeast of Holbrook, received the Type 2/10 SPT Harvester centrifuge, worth an estimated $50,000, on Thursday, Oct. 27, and will perform a series of extraction tests with the harvester that will be shared with the algae industry.
“This unit is a huge breakthrough for the industry. It’s not a full solution, but it really goes a long way toward solving the harvest and extraction step,” explained Edwards. “That’s been a real sticking point in the algae industry. It’s why a lot of companies failed. They were able to grow the algae, but they weren’t able to harvest it efficiently.”
According to Edwards, the centrifuge unit reduces the harvesting costs by a factor of 10 by using far less energy. “The traditional problem with harvesting microalgae from sea water specifically is that the density between the (algae) cell and the media (sea water and nutrients) is very small,” stated Andrew Ayers, AlgaeBio’s co-founder and president. “In order to remove the algae from the water, in the past, producers have had to use extremely high G-force centrifuges, which can have detrimental effects on the algae, because they generate heat in the process.”
He explained that the Exodus unit runs at a much slower revolutions per minute (RPM) rate, resulting in less heat and less damage to the product.
AlgaeBio officials claim that future opportunities will include pharmaceuticals such as designer proteins, vaccines, enzymes, antibodies and research agents; sustainable biofuels; macroalgae for human food; organic pigments that can replace synthetic dyes in food and cosmetics; organic compounds called carotenoids, which are potent antioxidants that reduce cell damage and fight disease; and liquid feed for marine life.
AlgaeBio also recently launched a new agribusiness subsidiary. The Algae BioMax Inc. system is being reported by the company to deliver algae-based nutrients to crops through standard irrigation systems in a process that boosts crop yield and quality, reduces the need for chemical fertilizers, fuel and herbicides, improves soil porosity and fertility, and strengthens plants against extreme weather, drought and pests.
Information provided by AlgaeBio states that results from a pilot program conducted at a large Arizona melon crop farm show considerably higher yields for algae-infused crops, 38 percent higher for cantaloupes and 90 percent higher for honeydew melons. The crops treated with the Algae BioMax system also contained more sugar, Vitamin C and essential micronutrients. According to cost tracking data generated from the pilot program, farmers can also realize significant savings in input costs of fertilizers, fungicides and pesticides.
AlgaeBio announced in mid-August a $5 million first-phase expansion to its production facilities near Holbrook, which will allow the company to reach large-scale commercial production levels of omega-3 fatty acid oils by early 2012.
