Mass Production of Algae
for Biofuels & Bioproducts

G'Day Algae World - What the Aussies Know About Algae that the Rest of us Don't?

CMT's ALGAE WORLD AUSTRALIA is a timely and topical conference that encapsulates the robust algae developments in Australia. Coincidently, Biofuels Digest also recently highlighted the myriad of algae activities down under and gave it the nickname "Algstralia".

Editor Jim Lane says:

"What do you do with a country that is basically a desert, cut off from the global biomass trade by a tyranny of distance, with a carbon emissions problem, a wealthy population, a stumbling rural economy, and the occasional political will to do something about climate change? As the saying goes: if life gives you lemons, make lemonade; if life won't even give you lemons, make algal biofuels."

Source: https://biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2011/03/02/algstralia-the-land-of-gold-from-green/

And in fact, Algae ventures are thriving in Australia. Various federal and state government departments are eager to back up the growth of the industry by providing R&D grants

Cognis's world's largest microalgae (Dunaliella salina) plant at Hutt Lagoon, Western Australia and Whyalla in South Australia has been producing beta-carotene to serve the nutritional supplement, natural food colouring, and feed additive markets since 1986.

Muradel project at Kurratha, Western Australia: Has completed construction of its algal biofuel pilot plant. It is a joint venture of MurdochUniversity, Adelaide Research & Innovation Pty Ltd (the commercial development company of the University of Adelaide), and commercial partner SQC Pty Ltd. They received AUD1.89million from the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.

James Cook University and MBD Energy: Researching on Using Algae for Bio-CCS and Bio-CCR. R&D funded by Advanced Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre.

Algal Fuels Consortium: Partnership of South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), Flinders University and CSIRO to develop a pilot and pre-commercial scale facility on Torrens Island using seawater ponds, next to a gas-fired power station. The consortium won a AUD2.724-million research grant under the Department of Resources Energy and Tourism's Second Generation Biofuels program in Australia.

CSIRO Energy Transformed Flagship: The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is Australia's national science agency and one of the largest in the world. They are focusing on the use of waste water for production of algal biodiesel

American and European companies and research groups are also at play down under, including:

Solazyme teaming up with Qantas for a renewable jet fuel project.

MBD Energy's (AU) project with OriginOil (US) and Evodos (NL) in Townsville: Testing of OriginOil's quantum fracturing and single-step extraction systems and Evodos's Algae Harvesting system at their R&D facility.

Aurora Algae (US) received an initial AUD750,000 of a total Australian government grant of up to AUD2 million for hitting key development milestones in the construction of its Western Australia demonstration plant.

Solar Bio-Fuels Consortium: International network consisting of University of Queensland (AU), Universität Bielefeld (DE), Universität Karlsruhe (DE), Universität Münster (DE), University ofSydney (AU) and Imperial College London (UK) and continues to expand. They are focused on photo-bioreactor design for biodiesel, methane and hydrogen production. It received AUD286,000 from the Australian Research Council.

If you are keen to participate in the AlgaeBoom in Australia, or in need of Latest Technological Achievements on Algae for Biofuels and Bioproducts...

... you MUST mark your calendar on 16-17 Augustto attend ALGAE WORLD AUSTRALIAin the beautiful coastal town of Townsville, in Sunny Queensland, Australia.

Algae World Australia at Townsville is a 1.5 days conference with an optional technical site visit to theMBD Energy & James Cook University (MBD-JCU) AlgalR&D Facility

With the theme of

"Mass Production of Algae for
Biofuels &Bioproducts",
the conference will highlight:

Growing algae in Australia - Ideal Location, Suitable Species & Strains for Biofuels & Bioproducts
Government Policies and Programs in Support of Algae Biofuels & Bioproducts
Waste-water based Algae Production
Perspective of a Power Company on usingAlgae for Carbon Capture
Microalgal Lipid Content & Productivitiesand its Potential Uses
Potential of Algae in Health, Feed andCosmetics
Development of Aviation BiofuelfromAlgae
Design and Optimisation of Photobioreactor & Open Pond Culture Systems
Cost Effective Algae Harvesting & Processing
Scaling up Algae Production - Challengesand Lessons Learnt

Featuring top algae experts from leading research institutes, and commercial companies, ALGAE WORLD AUSTRALIA is your one-stop station for Insight on algae biotechnology, Networking with industry peers, and meeting place for deal making and forming Partnerships.

BONUS: Optional Site Visit to MBD-JCU Algal R&D Facility

On Day 2 afternoon, delegates can opt to go for a technical site visit to the above. It is a 5,500 sq metres R&D facility located at JCU's Townsville campus. It is a pilot project that is aimed at commercialising the development of Bio Carbon Capture and Storage technology. The process consumes large quantities of greenhouse gases while producing low cost bio-oil and animal feedstock. Here's what you'll see at the test facility:

Various growing systems for micro & macro algae
Numerous dewatering, harvesting and oil extraction systems

About MBD Energy

MBD is an Australian based public, unlisted technology company. One of the world's largest mining companies, Anglo American, became a cornerstone investor in MBD in 2009 and Anglo Coal's Global CEO, Seamus French, has recently joined as a non-executive director of MBD Energy. The MBD Energy Board is chaired by former BHP Chairman, Jerry Ellis. MBD has a joint research and development facility located at James Cook University (JCU), Townsville, Queensland. MBD Energy and its JCU team are regarded as international leaders in the use of captured flue-gases as feedstock to produce algal biomass for Bio-CCS. In addition to the project at Tarong Power Station, MBD Energy currently has two similar projects underway with Loy Yang Power in Victoria and Eraring Energy in New South Wales. MBD Energy is a founding member of the Bio CCS program. The program is made up of a number of regional projects with each targeting 50 million tonnes of greenhouse gas sequestration per year by 2020.