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May 5, 2009
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--OriginOil, Inc. (OTCBB: OOIL), the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum, recently announced a partnership with Desmet Ballestra, an international pioneer in oil and fats technologies.
OriginOil CEO and President Riggs Eckelberry announced this partnership during a speaking engagement at the National Algae Association's fifth quarterly meeting in which he discussed potential gains from this technology breakthrough. Eckelberry's presentation from the conference can also be found on the OriginOil website.
"Desmet Ballestra is an early leader in the implementation and sale of full-scale algae extraction systems. With Desmet Ballestra as a worldwide partner, OriginOil can begin commercializing its algae-to-oil technology on a global scale," said Riggs Eckelberry, CEO of OriginOil. "Like most current algae oil extraction systems on the market, the Desmet systems are quite expensive. Our patent-pending Single-Step Oil Extraction technology will help Desmet Ballestra create a more cost-efficient algae oil extraction system. In early studies, Desmet and OriginOil have estimated that energy efficiency gains may reach 90% in certain configurations."
"We are looking forward to working with OriginOil on a partnership that we believe will be mutually beneficial," said Desmet Ballestra North America president and CEO Timothy G. Kemper. "We are enthusiastically modeling the use of OriginOil's Single Step Extraction technology in commercial algal oil extraction systems, and expect to announce further industry-impacting details in the months to come."
Conventional algae oil extraction systems use petrochemical or alcohol solvents to extract algae oil. In this process, the largest amount of energy consumption comes from the initial steps of dewatering and drying the algal biomass. The novel OriginOil Single Step Extraction technology, however, allows the oil to be separated from the algal biomass in water with no dewatering or drying steps. As a result, substantial electrical and thermal energy can be saved.
The OriginOil Single Step Extraction technology also requires significantly less capital expenditure per ton of oil extracted. Conventional oil extraction systems utilizing petrochemical and alcohol solvents are rather complex and need to be large-scaled to keep the capital cost per ton of oil within reason. In contrast, the OriginOil Single Step Extraction technology does not require a petrochemical solvent, such as hexane, which is known to require an extensive permitting process before implementation, thus allowing for a more cost-effective production of algal oil.
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April 20, 2009
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--OriginOil, Inc. (OTCBB:OOIL), the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum, today announced an innovative single-step process to extract oil from algae. In addition to integrating this process into its own production system, OriginOil plans to rapidly commercialize the patent-pending process for use by others in the fast-growing algae industry.
Initial testing indicates that the new algae oil extraction process is simpler and more efficient than current systems, without requiring chemicals or significant capital expenditure for heavy machinery.
A dramatic time-lapse video posted today at www.originoil.com begins with a batch of algae that has just gone through OriginOil's process. In less than an hour, the oil, water and biomass separate by gravity alone. Unlike conventional systems, no chemicals or heavy machinery are used in this single-step process, and no initial dewatering is required.
"Throughout the world, algae production is becoming a fact, but it still has to be harvested efficiently," said Riggs Eckelberry, CEO of OriginOil. "Our breakthrough technology accomplishes key parts of the harvesting process in a single, cost-effective step. We are planning to make our new technology available to our fast-growing industry."
The company recently filed for patent protection of the new algae oil extraction process, its seventh patent application, entitled "Device and Method for Separation, Cell Lysing and Flocculation of Algae From Water." OriginOil CTO Dr Vikram Pattarkine said, "With this new process, we have greatly improved on our previous harvesting technology. We now have a single device and process that we will optimize and scale up in upcoming trials for commercialization."
Harvesting algae is a challenge. Algae grow suspended in large volumes of water. Once ready for harvest, the algae culture must be concentrated and the oil extracted from each cell. Then, the oil, water and biomass must all be separated for processing. The new OriginOil process achieves all these steps in one pass.
In the process, the company's Quantum Fracturing"! combines with electromagnetism and pH modification to break down cell walls, thereby releasing the oil within these cells. Algae oil rises to the top for skimming and refining, while the remaining biomass settles to the bottom for further processing as fuel and other valuable products.
CEO Riggs Eckelberry will provide process details at the National Algae Association's Forum on April 30, 2009. Meanwhile, he will discuss the technology and OriginOil's work with the Department of Energy on scaling up biofuels production in Washington, DC this week. "The Obama Administration has targeted renewable energy for 10 million new jobs in the next decade," concluded Eckelberry. "OriginOil plans to license its technology to help transform algae into a renewable and sustainable replacement for petroleum."
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February 17, 2009
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Algae-to-energy developer OriginOil has signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy to cooperate in research, the company said on Tuesday.
Los Angeles-based OriginOil and the DOE's Idaho National Laboratory will work to validate the company's technology of growing algae for fuel in a "photobioreactor."
Idaho National Lab advisory scientist Thomas H. Ulrich said, "Our primary challenge is cost-effective and scalable industrial processes and our partnership with OriginOil will help us find solutions to this challenge in the promising area of algae-to-oil technology."
OriginOil was founded in 2007. Its bioreactor attempts to speed the growth of algae in a tank by blending light emitted from a rotating shaft with nutrients. The tank can be scaled to the size needed and if developed fully, can be manufactured by outside companies.
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December 19, 2008
California-based OriginOil Inc. has successfully automated its algae cultivation and oil extraction system, allowing it to grow algae to extract the oil for biodiesel production.
The design of the Helix BioReactor utilizes low-energy lights arranged in a helix pattern and a rotating vertical shaft design, which allows algae culture to replicate exponentially within a smaller installation footprint. Automation of this system is a key step towards continuous algae production, allowing greater control of the growth environment and efficient, low-cost industrial algae production.
The automation will provide control over all stages of monitoring, solenoid operation, nutrient injection and carbon dioxide delivery at the micron level. Nutrient and carbon dioxide delivery are timed precisely to the pH algorithms to return micron-mixed fluid to the bioreactor. Through programming of certain key metrics, such as pH, oxidation-reduction potential and temperature, the system is capable of not only monitoring but also controlling flow and timing of events in the algae growth cycle, which is crucial to controlling batch health in continuous algae production.
"We're aiming for a short window of explosive growth," explained Riggs Eckelberry, founder and chief executive officer of OriginOil. The system would adjust the various parameters to manage a daily algae bloom, from which 90 percent of the algae would be harvested with 10 percent retained for the next day's bloom.
OriginOil expects to soon scale up its experiments from a bench-scale, eight gallon reactor, to a 200 gallon reactor. This mid-size prototype will be one-tenth the size of a planned commercial-size reactor, Riggs said. The mid-size prototype will give the numbers to extrapolate yields and costs to field production scale. Riggs said the company timeline calls for a full-scale prototype to be operational by mid-2009.
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October 1, 2008 - OriginOil, Inc. (OTCBB: OOIL ), the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil , into a true competitor to petroleum, today announced that a prominent algae scientist, Professor Emeritus Takaaki Maekawa, has made a positive evaluation of the company's technology.
Takaaki Maekawa is professor emeritus at the University of Tsukuba's Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences in Japan. His recent research themes have included "Development of Controlled Ecological Life Support system with Co2 Fixation, Algae, Solid Fermentation." Professor Maekawa reviewed the initial algae production metrics from OriginOil's first Helix Bioreactor"! prototype.
OriginOil co-founder Nicholas Eckelberry reported, "With our first prototype, we attained approximately 13.5 grams of dry mass per liter (g-dm/L) of algae mass in a 36 hour period and more as time progressed. Eckelberry added, "The early prototype has since been optimized and we expect to attain 20-25 g-dm/L within a 24-36 hour period. Due to the laboratory scale of the prototype, our encouraging results should be considered projections. Nonetheless, we are excited about the extraordinary algae growth rates in the Helix BioReactor."
Based on meetings between Professor Maekawa and the OriginOil team, Maekawa commented, "OriginOil did a good job of producing 13.5 g-dm/L of algae. Based on my initial calculations, 20.0 g-dm/L per 36 hour period meets the threshold for optimal return on investment for large scale algae refineries we are studying in Japan. It appears that OriginOil's Helix Bioreactor and its carbon dioxide supply techniques will help to reach this goal."
Industry production figures in the algae industry vary widely. In open ponds, a daily growth rate of 2.0 g-dm/L is considered excellent (source). Professor Makoto Watanabe at the University of Tsukuba has reported achieving 3.5 g-dm/L in the laboratory (source). In special cases, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute in Stuttgart have reported a maximum concentration of 10 g-dm/L (source).
"We applaud this positive feedback from a respected researcher in the algae-to-oil field" , said Riggs Eckelberry, CEO of OriginOil. He added, "We are planning discussions with Professor Maekawa for a collaborative research project to attain a provable level of viability based on the combination of our system innovations and his methodologies."
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Aug. 23, 2008
The future of algae is aglow, if the claims of Origin Oil are correct. The company presented its photobioreactor technology at the National Algae Association Business Plan Forum on July 17 in The Woodlands, Texas.
"We just filed our fifth patent and that signaled our sort of coming out party," said Riggs Eckelberry, president and chief executive officer of Origin Oil Inc. "It was the first time we have discussed our technology in detail and discussed our vision."
Origin Oil's algae production system incorporates several unique innovations. "Algae has always been one of those promising things that is just a few years away," Eckelberry said. "We discovered there are a number of speed bumps in the process that add up to be a show stopper. If you have a problem with every step, it adds up to something that just doesn't work. Our approach was not to think of algae as a crop but as an industrial process."
The company calls the first patented step "quantum fracturing" which creates micronized bubbles to carry carbon dioxide and other nutrients to the algae. Eckelberry said this system is a very efficient way to deliver elements necessary for growth to the algae. "We launched the company with that original patent," Eckelberry said.
The second stage of the process uses the company's Helix Bioreactor. The system differs from most photobioreactors in that it's lit internally by low power LEDs which are tuned to the red and blue frequencies that deliver the most energy to the algae. Eckelberry said these LEDs could be powered by wind, solar or other renewable resources. "We strongly prefer indirect lighting," he said. "We love the sun, but we don't want to have direct sunlight. Algae only consumes a small part of the sun's spectrum, less than 10 percent. Some of the other rays are actually harmful to the algae. We believe that if you can get the right wavelength to the algae cells, then you will have much more efficient growth."
The final step in the process uses the Quantum Fracturing process to harvest the algae. Creating the microscopic bubbles also creates ultrasonic waves and heat. Combining these effects with low power tuned microwaves disrupts the cell wall of the algae, releasing the oil which can then be skimmed off.
The first implementation of the company's technology will be deployed in transport containers which are commonly used in shipping. This will allow Origin's customers to work with the system on a modular basis, adding units as necessary. This setup will be used as the company optimizes the system to the point where it can be implemented on an industrial scale. "The problem with this industry is that everybody wants to do it," Eckelberry said. "We said we will build a standard module that can be used for entry level applications. People can easily get a turnkey algae production system that is stackable, scalable and transportable."
As the applications of the system grow and develop, Origin Oil will license its designs to companies who want to build large scale systems. "After (scaling up to) more than six or seven units, you really want to go to a custom application, more like a brewery," Eckelberry said. "We want to help you build that brewery. It will be more a 'powered by'solution rather than our company building all these facilities."
The National Algae Association was recently formed by Barry Cohen. He deemed the association's quarterly forum a success with more than 250 attendees. "The conference is far beyond my expectations," Cohen said. "We have doubled in size since our last conference. Algae is taking off as a feedstock that doesn't affect the food channel. With the price of feedstocks going up, algae is going be something that will help the biodiesel industry."
Eckelberry agreed with the assessment of the meeting. "I was amazed at the energy of the conference," Eckelberry said. "The corridors were just overwhelmed with people. There was a combination of very smart scientific people and businesspeople, funders and entrepreneurs. It was quite a mix."
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Technology
There are three primary challenges in cultivating algae for oil:
1. Algae growth is dependent on a calm fluid environment; it does not like agitation. One of the primary challenges is how to optimally introduce carbon dioxide (CO2) and nutrients needed by the growing algae culture without disrupting or over-aerating it.
2. Algae requires light as a source of energy to fuel its growth and oil production facilities. Algae cultivation systems need to cost-effectively and evenly distribute light within the algae culture.
3. Algae organisms are protected by a tough cell wall. That wall must be cracked - an energy-expensive process - to extract the oil. The challenge is to maximize oil yield by cracking as many of the algae cells as possible with the smallest amount of energy.
Patent-Pending Technology
OriginOil's suite of patent-pending technologies and process innovations intends to address these specific challenges.
OriginOil's patent-pending technology, Quantum Fracturing, is based on the science of mass transfer and fluid fracturing and addresses some of the challenges of industrializing algae oil production.
A quantum is the smallest quantity of some physical property that a system can possess. We use the term to illustrate how we fracture the nutrient delivery environment into very small parts, down to a micron, or a millionth of a meter. Using Quantum Fracturing, water, carbon dioxide and other nutrients are fractured at very high pressure to create a slurry of micron-sized nutrition-bubbles, which is then channeled to the algae culture awaiting it in a lower-pressure growth vessel, the Helix BioReactor"!.
This process achieves total and instantaneous distribution of nutrients to the algae culture without fluid disruption or aeration. The pressure differentials between the two zones substantially increase contact and exchange between the micronized nutrients and the algae culture.
Ultimate Oil Production Efficiency
The increased contact between culture and nutrients makes for very high absorption of CO2 and nutrients in the growth phase and most importantly, by increasing the CO2 absorption during this phase, the algae cell will produce a much greater volume of hydrocarbons (oil).
Two Stages of Algae Production
OriginOil's patent-pending algae oil production system employs Quantum Fracturing in two major stages of algae production.
Growth Stage:
CO2 and nutrients are fractured into a micro-bubble slurry and injected directly into the algae culture for complete contact and nutrient absorption.
Extraction Stage:
Water and special catalysts are fractured at high ultrasonic intensity, using very little energy, to crack the algae membrane to facilitate extracting its oil content.
Quantum Fracturing technology greatly enhances the efficiency of algae production and makes it cost-effective and viable.
The heart of the OriginOil system is the Helix BioReactor(tm), an advanced algae growth system that can grow multiple layers of algae biomass around-the-clock with daily harvests.
In a natural pond, the sun only illuminates one layer of algae growth, down to about half an inch below the surface. In contrast, the Helix BioReactor"! features a rotating vertical shaft with very low energy lights arranged in a helix or spiral pattern, which results in a theoretically unlimited number of growth layers. Additionally, each lighting element is engineered to produce specific light waves and frequencies for optimal algae growth.
The helix structure also serves as the bioreactor's nutrient delivery system, through which the Quantum Fractured nutrients, including CO2, is evenly delivered to the entire algae culture, monitored and tuned for optimum growth.
This algae growth environment will allow the algae culture to replicate exponentially, doubling the entire colony in as little as a few hours, making for very efficient, low-cost, low-footprint industrial algae production.
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