Consortium for Algal Biofuel Commercialization demonstrates six years of work

May 11, 2016 |

In California, Consortium for Algal Biofuel Commercialization (CAB-Comm), led by the University of California, San Diego, has just released its final report, detailing the many accomplishments and impactful contributions achieved in its six years of operation. CAB-Comm was established in 2010 through a competitive award from the Energy Department’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) to conduct research to enable commercial viability of algae-based biofuels. CAB-Comm focused on three key aspects of algal biofuels production: development of genetic tools, crop protection, and nutrient utilization and recycling.

One of the most significant of CAB-Comm’s achievements was developing a full suite of genetic tools for cyanobacteria, green algae, and diatoms. CAB-Comm has since made these tools publicly available through the Life Technologies catalog, where more than 150 algae products are now listed and available for world-wide distribution.

Another significant accomplishment was the world’s first outdoor field tests of a genetically modified algae strain, Scenedesmus dimorphous, run in collaboration with Sapphire Energy under approval of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Toxic Substances Control Act Environmental Release Application. Results concluded that these algae did not displace native species in test cultures of local waters and that the genetically modified traits expressed were stable throughout the three months of cultivation.

Category: Research

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