The Buzz

Cellana Algae Consortium Adds Another Partner

December 19, 2010
AlgaeIndustryMagazine.com

ornell University researchers have joined Kailua Kona, Hawaii-based algal biofuel research company Cellana, along with Duke University, San Francisco State University, the University of Hawaii and the University of Southern Mississippi on a $9 million DOE-backed mission to develop a commercial-scale algae-to-fuel facility by 2015.

The goal for the consortium is to develop a 100-acre commercial-scale facility to produce fuels and animal feeds from microalgae. Charles Greene, a Cornell professor of earth and atmospheric sciences, who is a principal investigator on the project, is working with Jeff Tester, a professor of sustainable energy systems in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and associate director of the Cornell’s Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, to analyze the economics, energy costs and carbon footprint of the project. “In the ideal sense, all biofuels should approach carbon neutrality,” says Greene.

To help improve the economic viability of the project, Cellana is looking into extracting proteins for nutritional supplements for animal feeds from the byproducts of algal biofuel production. According to the consortium such supplements could provide revenue to subsidize some of the biofuel production costs, especially in the early stages. Cornell’s Xingen Lei, professor of molecular nutrition in the Department of Animal Sciences, is now conducting feeding trials of such algal-based nutritional supplements in chickens and pigs.

The grant is funded through the DOE’s Office of Biomass Programs as part of the implementation of the agency’s National Algal Biofuels Roadmap. Cellana also receives substantial support from Royal Dutch Shell.