Seambiotic USA and NASA Glenn Research Center Signed Agreement for Large Scale Microalgae Process Optimization
PRESS RELEASE Date Released:
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Source: Seambiotic USA
Seambiotic, a global leader in the development and production of marine microalgae for the nutraceutical and biofuel industries, has announced that its U.S. subsidiary, Seambiotic USA, has entered into an agreement with NASA Glenn Research Center to develop an on-going collaborative R&D program for optimization of open-pond microalgae growth processes.
"Under a Space Act Agreement, NASA is partnering with Seambiotic USA to model growth processes for microalgae for use as aviation biofuel feedstock," said Prof. Ami Ben-Amotz, Chief Scientific Adviser to Seambiotic. "The goal of the agreement is to make use of NASA's expertise in large-scale computational modeling and combine it with Seambiotic's biological process modeling to make advances in biomass process cost reduction."
Under the Agreement, NASA Glenn and Seambiotic USA will work together to improve production processes and to study and qualify algae oil from alternative species and production processes as candidate aviation fuel at NASA's test facilities.
About NASA Glenn Research Center
The NASA John H. Glenn Research Center NASA Glenn Research Center (http://www.nasa.gov/glenn) is one of NASA's 10 field centers, empowered with the resources for developing cutting-edge technologies and advancing scientific research that address NASA's mission to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research. Working in partnership with government, industry and academia, the center serves to maintain the U.S. economy's global leadership while benefiting the lives of people around the world.
About Seambiotic USA
Seambiotic USA is a fully owned subsidiary of Seambiotic Ltd., located in Ashkelon, Israel.
Seambiotic (http://www.seambiotic.com/) was founded in 2003 to grow and process marine microalgae for the nutraceutical and biofuel industries. Seambiotic's research efforts include a pilot study at an Israeli Electric Corporation power station near the city Ashkelon, Israel, where various species of marine microalgae have been successfully cultivated using the power station's CO2 emissions released directly from their smokestacks; the microalgae are in turn used as feedstock for biofuel. Seambiotic technology reduces the cost of microalgae production significantly while lowering global warming by reducing industrial CO2 emissions. The company is currently in transition from the pilot plant stage to large scale industrial algae cultivation and production.
