MARYSVILLE, Ohio — Scientists and researchers are working inside a central Ohio lab at Algaeventure Systems. They are hoping to unlock the secrets of algae as they run tests in tanks and do examinations under microscopes.

Scientists have studied the harmful algal bloom at Grand Lake St. Marys and have an exciting proposal.

“Could we flip that lake from, in essence, a bad algae to a good algae? In the lab we’ve been able to do that,” said Algaeventure Systems CEO Ross Youngs.

Algaeventure Systems offers a chance to people who live at the lake. Youngs and his colleagues have been developing this technology for the last few years.

“Our primary technology is water solid separation on a microscopic scale,” Youngs said.

In fact, the equipment and machines they have created are already being sold to companies interested in harvesting the algae and turning it into a reusable product.

“You could be potentially producing foods or feeds,” Youngs added. “You could be producing fertilizers, chemicals, and potentially plastics.”

He said this new technology is just the tip of the iceberg.

“Algae technologies is going to explode onto the future before people even know it,” he said.

Algaeventure Systems is currently overseeing a $25,000 pilot project in Grand Lake St. Marys, funded by the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

It is hoped the 2.5 acre study will demonstrate the company’s ability to turn harmful blue green algae into non-toxic algae by adding silica (sand).

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Marysville, Ohio – July 30, 2010 – Algaeventure Systems (AVS), the Edison Materials
Technology Center (EMTEC), the Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI) in Cleveland and the Center for Innovative Food Technology (CIFT) are collaborating on a multi-disciplinary effort to explore the technical and economic feasibility of producing aviation fuel for the United States Air Force from renewable resources grown in Ohio.

The ongoing initiative to reduce the cost of algae-to-fuel conversion is funded under the Versatile Affordable Advanced Turbine Engines (VAATE) Program Prime Contract between the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI). The primary goal of this collaboration is to find ways to increase power while decreasing fuel consumption, fuel cost and maintenance costs of both military and commercial aviation engines through the exploration of alternative fuel sources, such as algae oil.

Algaeventure Systems is currently operational on the second year of the project within the subcontract “Deployment of a Rapid Algae Concentration System in a Natural Body of Water” to further advancements in algae collection and concentration technology. The overall objective of the subcontract is to demonstrate AVS’s lab proven Rapid Algae Concentration (RAC) system in open, natural bodies of water. As the RAC system demonstrates significant cost-reduction in the processing of algae to fuel, AVS may become an important system and technology supplier in the military biofuel supply chain.

Supplementing the ARPA-E accredited technology, AVS’s Harvest Dewater & Dry Unit (HDD), the RAC system will provide extraordinary benefit and value as it increases the concentration of algae in water from algae growth systems. Higher concentration levels of algae will further improve the processing effectiveness of AVS’s HDD dewatering systems. Using passive agglomeration technology, the material, placed in a body of water containing algae, is able to collect algae at very low energy inputs without chemicals or mechanical pumping. The RAC technology delivers high concentrations of biomass, resulting in less water to process and
higher algal yields. Through continuous processing methods, RAC technology can be redeployed and reused. Under the approval and permission of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, AVS will be running a natural lake test at Grand Lake St. Marys, Ohio’s largest inland lake, this summer to confirm hypotheses that the technology will work outside of laboratory environments and demonstrate viability in natural bodies of water. This complement to cost-reducing algae-harvesting technologies will have a great effect on energy from biomass as well as remediation if proven to be successful in open-pond scenarios.

“This next testing phase will be critical to the future utilization of microalgae growth for water remediation, as well as the conversion of microalgae biomass into JP8,” said AVS President and CEO Ross Youngs.

EMTEC is a non-profit organization, of which AVS is a member, which develops technology and business strategies, sponsors and manages collaborative technology projects and programs, and provides technology and business-based assistance that facilitate the commercialization of our member company’s new Technology.

EMTEC’s focus is on products and technologies in Advanced Materials, Advanced Energy, and Instruments, Controls and Electronics with a commitment to our mission of accelerating technology to market.

“EMTEC is pleased to collaborate with Algaeventure on this project,” said Frank Svet, EMTEC President and CEO. “The progress made last year will provide a solid foundation for the work that is ahead.”

With over 22 years of experience, EMTEC provides technical coordination, business assistance, and commercialization support to Ohio’s industry, universities, and government labs to strengthen Ohio’s industrial competitiveness in advanced energy, instruments controls, and electronics, automotive, metals and castings, nanomaterials, composites, biomaterials, and other advanced materials markets.

About Algaeventure Systems
Algaeventure Systems, Inc. is a spinoff company from Univenture, Inc., an environmentally conscious plastics packaging manufacturer bringing to market a variety of patented and award winning molded and converted plastic products that are eco-friendly. Algaeventure Systems, Inc. develops technology and systems for algal production of lipids and biomass, which can be used for fuels, plastics, advanced materials, feeds, foods, and other valuable resources. For more information on Algaeventure Systems, Inc. or Univenture, visit www.algaevs.com or www.univenture.com or call the corporate headquarters at 866.939.8342

Ohio-based Univenture/Algaeventure Systems received a $5.9 million grant from the Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy (ARPA-E) for advanced research on harvesting, dewatering and drying algae. The cost of this process is considered one of the largest barriers to taking algae-derived products, including biofuel, to market. More than half a million dollars from the grant will go to Ohio University for its role in supporting the research.

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“This crisis was caused by energy. We’re going to have that crisis re-appear. Its going to create an awful lot of incentive or an awful lot of depression. We would prefer that the incentive is what we focus on and we get off of expensive non-renewable fuels.”

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Algaeventure Systems, Inc. is a spinoff of Univenture, Inc., an Ohio-based plastics packaging manufacturer that specializes in eco-friendly packaging solutions. Algaeventure was founded to focus on developing technologies to commercialize algae production and separation into oils and bio-feedstocks. They believe that algae has the ability to feed virtually every aspect of the current petroleum-product industry as well as the evolving bio-diesel industry….

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Reported by Lindsay Silberman of INC. Magazine | May 1, 2010

To be a viable source for fuel, algae must be dried completely, but the most common way of doing so — spinning it in a centrifuge — is costly and inefficient and often damages the plant particles. Algaeventure Systems, founded by Ross O. Youngs in Marysville, Ohio, in 2008, has developed a more efficient drying system based on osmosis and other natural processes. After algal solution is placed on the AVS Harvester, a moving screen pulls the plant particles in one direction as a conveyor belt pulls the water in the other…

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New Jobs Coming Thanks To Algae

 

Algae May Be New Black Gold

 

View article from PRWeb.com

Article by, Amanda Little – for the publication Grist

Link to full article: Meet America’s most extreme energy geeks

Article Excerpt:

Click here to view article excerpt at Grist.org:

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Department of Energy’s ARPA-E (Transformational Energy Research Project) selects Univenture (Algaeventure Systems) to pursue breakthroughs that could fundamentally change the way we use and produce energy.

Marysville, Ohio—October 26, 2009—Described as a “potentially transformative innovation”, the Department of Energy announced today major funding for continued development of Algaeventure Systems HDD dewatering technology. Univenture’s Algaeventure Systems was formed to explore technology barriers for algae to energy and has been spun into a separate company.

Often described as the greatest cost barrier to algae’s viability as an energy solution, the HDD system reduces the energy costs of dewatering microalgae by over 90%. “The recognition and credibility that ARPA-E provides to our breakthrough technology is extraordinary”, says Ross Youngs, Algaeventure Systems Founder and CEO. “Our technology can be transformational to meeting our nations energy and national security needs.”

Of the $151 million in funding being awarded through the DOE’s recently formed Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), Univenture is slated to receive $5.9 million, the seventh highest award of over 37 highly selected recipients. ARPA-E’s mission is to develop nimble, creative and inventive approaches to transform the global energy landscape while advancing America’s technology leadership. This is the first round of projects funded under ARPA-E.

Inspired by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), ARPA-E was created to support high risk, high reward energy research that can provide transformative new solutions for climate change and energy security. ARPA-E was originally established under the America Competes Act of 2007. In April of this year, President Obama announced $400 million in initial funding for ARPA-E through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

In announcing the selections, Secretary Chu said: “After World War II, America was the unrivaled leader in basic and applied sciences. It was this leadership that led to enormous technological advances. ARPA-E is a crucial part of the new effort by the U.S. to spur the next Industrial Revolution in clean energy technologies, creating thousands of new jobs and helping cut carbon pollution.”

ARPA-E seeks to bring together America’s brightest energy innovators to pioneer a low cost, secure, and low carbon energy future for the nation.

The first ARPA-E solicitation was highly competitive and oversubscribed, with over 3,600 initial concept papers received. Of those, approximately 300 full applications were requested and ultimately 37 final awardees through a rigorous review process with input from multiple review panels composed of leading U.S. energy science and technology experts and ARPA-E’s program managers. Evaluations were based on the potential for high impact on ARPA-E’s goals and scientific and technical merit.

The DOE expressed that Univenture’s (Algaeventure Systems) “application was among those of the very highest scientific and technical merit, and is part of an ARPA-E portfolio of high impact projects that have great potential to revolutionize the U.S. energy sector.”

Lead Research Organization: Univenture, Inc.
Partner Organizations: Rockwell Automation, Ohio University, Case Western Reserve University

DOE Grant Amount
$5,992,697

Lead Organization Location
Marysville, OH

Project Description
Biomass Energy / Direct Solar Fuels A novel algae harvesting system that could dramatically reduce the energy cost necessary to harvest, dewater, and dry algae by using a novel absorbent moving belt harvester. This technology offers the potential to transform the economics of algae-based biofuel production by removing a major barrier to large-scale commercialization.

MARYSVILLE, OH, September 28, 2009

Algaeventure Systems (AVS), the creator of HDD technology, was awarded Algaepreneur for its development of low energy separation technology to harvest, dewater and dry (HDD) microalgae. Often described as a barrier to algae’s viability as a biofuel, the AVS HDD technology reduces the harvest and dewatering costs by over 90%. With each demonstration, consensus is built that the extraordinary breakthrough of HDD technology provides algae with a path toward commercialization.

AVS presented the HDD system to attendees at the National Algae Association (NAA) conference. Included in the presentation was a video illustrating the dewatering process, scanning electron microscope (SEM) illustrations of screen performance compared to high pressure filtering systems, and cost analysis of HDD processing comparative to current dewatering technologies.

Throughout the conference the merits of algae were discussed. The low capex and opex of the HDD systems enables the merits of algae to become realized.

Algaeventure Systems CEO, Ross Youngs shared, “We are grateful for the opportunity the NAA provides in bringing leaders and professionals from around the world to participate and contribute for the collaborative good of the industry. It is through collaboration that we will realize the benefits algae has to offer. We anticipate this is one of many breakthroughs that will be introduced at the NAA”

NAA members and conference attendees were encouraged to attend HDD demonstrations at Algaeventure Systems in Marysville, Ohio.

About Algaeventure Systems, Inc.

Algaeventure Systems, Inc. is part of Univenture, Inc., an environmentally conscious plastics packaging manufacturer bringing to market a variety of patented and award winning molded and converted plastic products that are eco-friendly. Algaeventure Systems, Inc. develops technology and systems for algal production of lipids and biomass, which can be used for fuels, plastics, advanced materials, feeds, foods, and other valuable resources.

For more information on Algaeventure Systems, Inc visit algaevs.com, or contact Amy Bucklin: 937-645-4604 or abucklin@algaevs.com.

NAA Contact
B. Cohen, 936-321-1125
Info@nationalalgaeassociation.com

MARYSVILLE, OH, August 6, 2009

Algaeventure Systems has been awarded a purchase order by General Atomics (GA) to provide its algae harvesting, dewatering, and drying technology (AVS HDD).

With breakthrough technology and funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), General Atomics is spearheading the efforts of a group of corporate technology developers and universities n the pursuit of evaluating the potential of algae-to-fuel projects. The goal is to develop an environmentally friendly, efficient, and cost-effective process in JP-8 jet fuel that can be derived from algae oil.

The Algaeventure Systems Harvesting, Dewatering, and Drying technology is a breakthrough that allows for a more efficient and cost-effective process to removing water from algae. The AVS HDD presents a significant step in providing algae as an economically feasible alternative fuel source. As a result, the technology has opened new doors of opportunity by proving to be scalable, portable, and effective. Harvesting, dewatering, and drying are critical elements to driving General Atomics’ research goals. “GA welcomes the opportunity to work with and evaluate Algaeventure’s dewatering technologies under our DARPA Algae Derived JP-8 program. We believe that Algaeventure’s approach holds promise for significantly reducing the cost of drying biomass at large scale thus improving the likelihood of producing cost-competitive, algae-derived fuel products,” said David Ordway, Project Manager at General Atomics. The AVS HDD will be included in the DARPA technical evaluations, providing insight
in to new and future possibilities.

About Algaeventure Systems, Inc.

Algaeventure Systems, Inc. is a spinoff company from Univenture, Inc., an environmentally conscious plastics packaging manufacturer bringing to market a variety of patented and award-winning molded and converted plastic products that are ecofriendly. Algaeventure Systems, Inc. develops technology and systems for algal production of lipids and biomass, which can be used for fuels, plastics, advanced materials, feeds, foods, and other valuable resources.

For more information on Algaeventure Systems, Inc. or Univenture, visit algaevs.com or univenture.com or contact Amy Bucklin : 937-645-4698 | Email

About General Atomics

General Atomics is a San Diego-based innovation firm with a 50-year history of successful solutions for environmental, energy, and defense challenges. Affiliated manufacturing and commercial service companies include General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., which produces the Predator® family of unmanned aircraft systems. General Atomics (GA) was awarded a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop scalable processes for the cost-effective large scale production of algae triglyceride oil and an algae-derived JP-8 jet fuel. The contract has a total value of up to $43M if all phases of the development program are completed.

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