Does China and the rest of Asia have the resource potential, experience and facility for algae production ?

By 2020, China needs to reach its alternative fuels goal which mandates 15% of total transportation fuels from biofuels. Faced with increasing reluctance to use food for fuel, China needs to diversify to algae oil and is indeed taking it seriously.

Government subsidized researchers are hunting for local algae strains while clean tech companies are exploding, and foreign investors are tying up deals to bring algae production technologies to China and the rest of Asia.

Microalgae projects are announced from China to North Asia to Indonesia. But how many of these will move to commercial stage remains to be seen.

Does Asia have the resource potential (flat land, water, Co2 source) and the right political climate for venturing into algae production ?

The industry admits that algae cultivation simply for biofuels cannot be currently profitable by itself and that the industry must take advantage of markets for additional high-value co-products such as nutraceuticals, fertilizers , high-end chemicals.

Taking centre-stage now is the realisation of algae as part of a carbon capture project .Integrating carbon capture with algae products production could really prove a major win for China - the world's largest GHG emitter.

Currently, many research efforts are performed at power plants where various species of marine microalgae are cultivated using the power station's CO2 emissions.The microalgae are then harvested and sold into the nutraceutical market , feedstock for animal/ fish and biofuels.

It appears that the winners could be those who can apply its technology for High-Value Products and for Biofuels , at the same time demonstrate cost efficient algae production in an ecologically based environmental system , reducing global warming and co2 emissions.

How do you develop an economically feasible algal integrated system tocapture CO2 from power plants ?

Does algae offer the promise of being great substitutes for fish meal?

Can it be the alternative source of protein for cattle and poultry feeds ?

Seize the opportunity and get your answers clarified at CMT's 4th Algae World ASIA. Bringing you the latest discussions and gathering of International and renowned speakers from Asia to share experiences and efforts in advancing the industry forward, keyhighlights include

• Commercial Viability of Algae investment - Economic Analysis, Cost Structure of Production & Processing
• Developing economically feasible algal integrated system to capture CO2 from power plants
• Protecting Intellectual Property for Clean Technology in China
• Current status of algal business in Korea , Japan, Indonesia
• Capturing Flue Gas emissions from coal power plant for microalgae production
• Algae extraction technology
• Commercialisation of Floating PBR Systems
• Large Scale Cultivation of MicroAlgae in diverse wastewater for wastewater treatment and biofuels production
• Algal biomass as a substitute/replacement for fish meal
• A Chinese producer's perspective on applications of Algae for high end, nutritionalproducts including cosmetics, health/ pharmaceutical products

You will network with

- Algae Producers - Renewable Energy Investors
- Biofuel/Ethanol Industry - Heavy Industries
- Cement, Steel etc - Power Plants - Distilleries
- Venture Capitalists - Institutional Investors
- Financial Institutions - Industry players-Oil, Gas Cos
- Refineries - Biotech Engineering Cos - Airlines
- Government Departments and Agencies - Research Consortiums - Cos in nutritional, health, high value added products - Animal Feed Producers - Aquaculture Industries - Food Science Cos - Technology Providers from Algae cultivation to downstream processing technologies

Optional Site Visit on 16th Nov Afternoon
ENN International Algae Facility

ENN is a fast-growing Chinese energy company . The 24,000 employee, 4 US$billion company, is heavily involved in the energy business and developing technology to pass carbon dioxide through algae to help reduce China's greenhouse gas emissions from their coal power plants that currently provide 70% of the electrical energy needs of the country.

Coal is first gasified in a simulated underground environment. The carbon dioxide is extracted with the help of solar and wind power, then "fed" to algae, which can be then used to make biofuel, fertiliser or animal feed

The site visit is in Langfang , an hour's drive from Beijing. It will include a tour of the laboratory where a team of scientists are testing microalgae to clean up the back-end of a uniquely integrated process to extract and use coal more efficiently and cleanly than is possible today.

It's part of a joint venture between ENN and Duke Energy, the largest US public utility.

Delegates of the site visit will get to see

1)      Cultivation of microalgae in different PBRs and  open ponds . The cultivation system will use the Co2 from the pilot coal gasification plant at the site.

2)      Part of the scaled-up dewatering /harvesting/lipids extraction system

3)      Algae National Key Bioenergy lab on algae strains, cultivation, PBRs, harvesting,lipids extraction

Courtesy of ENN International

Amazing Algae-Asia Conference - Who Says What?

A remarkable event comprising of many algae enthusiasts all around the world was conducted by the Centre for Management Technology (CMT) in Singapore on the 19th and the 20th of October.

The event comprised of many intellectual delegates keen on updating their knowledge on the latest developments in the algae-energy industry. Several discerning algologists working on algae-based high value end products fervent on understanding the technologies, status and the key bottlenecks faced by the algae energy industry were also present for this mega event.

An Eye Opener Indeed! - The conference opened up the horizon of the less initiated to what is possible, what is already happening and what scope exists. An eye opener to many!. Eminent and tech-savvy speakers from various research institutes, companies and consultancies world-over were in attendance. Some of the speakers provided useful insights on how to succeed in the algae-energy business and a few others discussed about the technological developments in the algae-industry and their efforts in this domain. Read full article