The Buzz

Biodiesel Industries Wins Algae Grant

August 29, 2010
AlgaeIndustryMagazine.com

California-based Biodiesel Industries, a privately held company that builds, owns and operates biodiesel production facilities, has announced the company’s selection by the California Energy Commission for a project grant to support the state’s Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program. This Biofuel Production Plants grant provides funding and financial assistance for the development of new, California-based biofuel production plants and enhances the operation of existing plants to increase statewide biofuel production and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Biodiesel Industries’ “ARIES© Bioenergy Project” was ranked in the top three among the 44 projects competing for grant funding, resulting in the company’s selection as a proposed grant recipient in the amount of $886,815. This multi-year project will demonstrate the use of advanced biodiesel production techniques utilizing algae in an integrated energy system monitored by the ARIES platform. ARIES (Automated Real-time, Remote, Integrated Energy System) has been jointly developed with Aerojet, an aerospace and defense leader principally serving the missile and space propulsion markets, to incorporate advanced automation control capabilities based upon their decades of experience in aerospace control systems and advanced propulsion.

ARIES is a highly automated, transportable biodiesel production unit with the capability to be controlled from a remote location. These features ensure reliable process control and optimal production yields in a sustainable system that can be readily and widely deployed. With ARIES, one data and process control center has the potential to remotely operate many scalable facilities integrated with next-generation feedstock cultivation, producing billions of gallons of biodiesel per year.

Under this grant, the system will be adapted to fully integrate algaculture, anaerobic digestion of waste products and self-generated combined heat and power. Project work will be conducted at Naval Base Ventura County at Port Hueneme, Calif. in conjunction with the ARIES Biodiesel Production demonstration and validation program under an ongoing Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center.

Russell Teall, president and founder of Biodiesel Industries explained, “Creating truly sustainable systems requires a thorough understanding of every aspect of biodiesel production, from feedstocks to finished products. The Integrated Energy System incorporated into ARIES will eventually allow us to generate our own heat and power, and to feed the surplus into a local micro-grid. These Energy Islands will support the local community with renewable and sustainable fuel, electricity and heat. We are grateful for the support from the California Energy Commission and look forward to working with them on this project.”

“We are pleased to support Biodiesel Industries in furthering ARIES’ capabilities under this grant opportunity,” added Kathy Robinson, biofuels director for Aerojet. “Reliable and automated management of feedstock processing, as well as value-added co-products such as heat and power, are key for a truly sustainable biofuels industry.”