Valcent lays off 45 percent of staff; confirms algae system product release by mid-year

In Texas, Valcent announced that it has laid off 19 people, or approximately half of its staff, at the company’s test facilities in Anthony and corporate offices. Management blamed the move on the economic downturn, but assured investors that the company was not shutting down. The company had employed 36 people in Texas and four at an administrative office in Vancouver, BC. The company said that it expected to commence delivery of its vertical algae growing systems in the first half of 2009.

Free Subscription to the Daily Biofuels Digest e-newsletter

Related Stories

Algae developments: More information on Vertigro; NREL nears algae research agreement

More information emerged regarding the 100,000 gallon per acre projections from Vertigro for its algae-based biodiesel production system developed by Valcent. Valcent, which developed a system for ...

Solix commences production in Durango trial; Valcent reappears?

In Colorado, Solix Biofuels said that it has commenced production of algal oil at its Coyote Gulch Demonstration Facility, and said that full-scale commercial operation would commence later this summe...

Valcent says lab results show up to 33,000 gallons per acre in algae production; harvesting, extraction, algae strain optimization research still ahead

Valcent Products said that its algae R&D team had reported producing one gram per liter of microalgae during a 90-day continual production test at lab scale. The company said that, based on its co...

Chevron and National Renewable Energy Laboratory announce algae research project

Chevron Corp. and the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory announced an algae-based biodiesel research project. The project will focus on development of high-lipid content strains of microalgae. ...

ICM lays off 105 ethanol plant construction staff as slowdown continues

In Kansas, the leading designer of ethanol plants, ICM, announced a layoff of 105 employees, or 16 percent of its workforce, due to the downturn in plant construction activity.  The company cites c...

South African algae-based biodiesel research effort expanded to laboratory stage

In South Africa, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is expanding its research efforts in the production of algae-based biodiesel. CSIR has invested more than $200,000 in desktop...