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August 5, 2010, St. Louis, MO –
Phycal LLC, which has its algae biotechnology laboratory at BioResearch & Development Growth Park (BRDG Park) at the Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, was one of six organizations selected by the U.S. Department of Energy for a special project announced on July 22, 2010 by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu. According to the Department’s press release, the six projects “aim to find ways of converting captured carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from industrial sources into useful products such as fuel, plastics, cement, and fertilizers.”
Phycal’s research is focused on developing an integrated production system for growing algae and extracting energy product, primarily algal oil. This oil can be converted into biodiesel, drop-in “green” replacements for diesel and jet fuel, fuel oil blends, and other products.
“Funded with $106 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – matched with $156 million in private cost-share – (the) selections demonstrate the potential opportunity to use CO2 as an inexpensive raw material that can help reduce carbon dioxide emissions while producing useful by-products that Americans can use.
“’These innovative projects convert carbon pollution from a climate threat to an economic resource,’ said Secretary Chu. ‘This is part of our broad commitment to unleash the American innovation machine and build the thriving, clean energy economy of the future,’” said the DOE.
In addition to Phycal, the other selected organizations include Alcoa, Inc., Novomer, Inc., Touchstone Research Laboratory, Skyonic Corporation and Calera Corporation. The Department of Energy has allocated $24,243,509 to Phycal for its work, which is one of the highest allocations.
The projects “were initially selected for a first phase funding in October 2009 as part of a $1.4 billion effort to capture CO2 from industrial sources for storage or beneficial use. Over the succeeding months, the project teams have performed experiments on innovative concepts and produced preliminary designs for pilot plants to study the feasibility of capturing and using CO2 exhausted from industrial processes. The selected projects now enter a second phase in which researchers design, construct, and operate their innovations at pilot-scale and evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of applying them correctly.
“Phycal will complete development of an integrated system designed to produce liquid biocrude fuel from microalgae cultivated with captured CO2. The algal biocrude can be blended with other fuels for power generation or processed into a variety of renewable drop-in replacement fuels such as jet fuel and biodiesel. Phycal will design, build and operate a CO2-to-algae-to-biofuels facility at a nominal thirty acre site in Central O’ahu (near Wahiawa and Kapolei), Hawaii. Hawaii Electric Company will qualify the biocrude for boiler use, and Tesoro will supply CO2 and evaluate fuel products,” according to the DOE.
Phycal spokesperson, Jeff Bargiel, added, “The total project, expected to cost $65 million over three years, will fund construction and operation of the pilot as well as continued research and development at Phycal's BRDG Park laboratory and subpilot-scale plant in Ohio."
About Phycal, LLC
Phycal is developing an integrated production system for growing algae and extracting energy products, primarily algal oil. This oil can be converted to biodiesel, drop-in “green” replacements for diesel and jet fuel, fuel oil blends, and other products. Phycal’s strategic approach combines innovative technology and system engineering with a business focus on producing oil at a market competitive price. The company is currently conducting research and development in a subpilot facility in Ohio and in its algae research laboratory in St. Louis. Phycal will construct a pilot facility in Hawaii and begin operations in 2010. Phycal Hawaii R&D LLC was created to oversee and implement the pilot project in Hawaii. Successful demonstration and testing of components, system performance, and products will support deployment of a commercial scale farm possibly in 2016. More information is available at
www.phycal.com.
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