OriginOil Annouces One-Step Algae Harvesting Method

OriginOil, Inc. (OOIL.OB), an algae-to-fuel developer, last week announced an innovative single-step process to extract oil from algae.

The company said the new algae oil extraction process is simpler and
more efficient than current systems, without requiring chemicals or
significant capital expenditure for heavy machinery.

According to OriginOil, in less than an hour, the oil, water and
biomass separate by gravity alone. Unlike conventional systems, no
chemicals or heavy machinery are used in this single-step process, and
no initial dewatering is required.  

OriginOil CTO Vikram Pattarkine said, “With this new process, we have
greatly improved on our previous harvesting technology. We now have a
single device and process that we will optimize and scale up in
upcoming trials for commercialization.”

In addition to integrating the process into its own production system, OriginOil plans to commercialize the patent-pending process for use by others in the algae industry.

Harvesting algae is a challenge. Algae grow suspended in large volumes of water. Once ready for harvest, the algae culture must be concentrated and the oil extracted from each cell. Then, the oil, water and biomass must all be separated for processing. OriginOil said its new process achieves all these steps in one pass.

In February, OriginOil signed a research agreement with The U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to focus on validation and commercial scaling of the company’s technology.

A video of the process is available at the link below.