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May 22, 2008
The Dutch company AlgaeLink, a global manufacturer of commercial scale algae cultivation equipment and algae-to-fuel-technology, has signed an exclusive agreement for a pilot project with KLM on developing alternative fuel for the aviation industry. The announcement was made on the fifteenth of April 2008 at the Future Fuels Aviation Summit in London.
The purpose of the Future Fuels Aviation Summit was to look at immediate possibilities to reduce fuel consumption. At the same time different ways and new developments were assessed concerning future fuel consumption. A road map for the next 5 to 15 years has been created as a guideline for the aviation fuel sector. Experts gave lectures on fuel efficiency techniques which can already be implemented today and about new possibilities for alternative fuels for the aviation industry. AlgaeLink presented several new technologies which proved it feasible to produce alternative aviation fuel for the industry.
Hans van de Ven, Managing Director of AlgaeLink, is very pleased about the cooperation with KLM: "Because of our expertise in optimising algae growth in a photo-bioreactor (PBR) and the extraction of biomass and oil out of the PBR , they came to us."
Not only the aviation industry is showing interest. Cruise companies have contacted AlgaeLink as well. Van de Ven: "At this point in time we are negotiating with the world's largest cruise liner to build an algae-growing-and-oil-extraction-system on a cruise ship. The emitted CO2 will be intercepted and together with the biological waste of the ship will be used within the algae-to-oil-system. The oil will be extracted on board the ship and can be used, after refining, directly in the diesel engines."
Son Marco van de Ven, co-founder of the AlgaeLink company is also very proud: "This project will consolidate our leading position in the development of the algae-to-fuel-programme. We still have a long way to go before we will be able to replace all fossil fuels with algae oil, but we have turned the right corner.
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March 5, 2008
AlgaeLink, a European leader in alternative energy production, announced today that they have developed a new way to extract oil out of wet algae paste. With this new method the algae paste is collected from the AlgaeLink reactor through filtering or centrifugation and directly, without any drying, processed in AlgaeLink's newly developed oil extraction system for which patent is pending. This production process saves a lot of time and energy. This system not only makes the use of algae oil eco-friendly but also the production of it. Total power consumption used in a 45m3 per hour oil extraction process is just 26 kW to turn 50% of the algae paste into oil.
AlgaeLink is a in The Netherlands based global manufacturer of scalable photo-bioreactors for the production of algae developed with patented technology. Algaelink's large scale, commercial size photo-bioreactor systems are so different from other systems available on the market today, that they have applied for five world-wide patents on items which are crucial to make any commercial photo-bioreactor function to it's fullest extent.
AlgaeLink is engaged in research and development of algae cultivation as an energy source for the production of biodiesel, which is an economically feasible and eco-friendly alternative to petroleum-based fuels.
Micro-algae have the highest potential of energy yield in vegetable oil crops. Some species of algae are ideally suited for biodiesel production due to their high oil content, some as much as 50%, and their extremely fast growth rate.
Hans and Marco van de Ven, founders and CEO's of AlgaeLink, are rightly proud of their newest system. They are especially proud of the fact that no chemicals are used during the whole process of algae growing, harvesting and extraction.
Marco: "Since we don't use any chemicals, the whatever is left of the algae paste may be sold for it's many specific and attractive compounds. Some compounds are very interesting as nutritional supplements, vitamins and antioxidants, such as carotene and astaxanthin. As well as important applications in the food industry, the paste can also be used in the pharmaceutical industry as it contains sterols, which can be used as building blocks for pharmaceuticals. Furthermore, cyan bacteria are a potential source of compounds with biomedical applications, such as antimicrobial, antiviral and anticancer compounds."
Hans: "We manufacture the best products available on the bio energy market today and sell them at very attractive prices. Our smallest 45m³ per hour oil extraction system only costs 70.000 euro. We invite potential buyers to visit our manufacturing plant in The Netherlands to evaluate our products, check the quality of the materials we use and see our demo plants. We are building a world-wide supply chain and network that is sustainable and which delivers value from "earth-to-engine". Our vision is to be the world's leader in the algae industry.
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