National Algae Association says “raceway ponds will never be used for industrial production.”

In Texas, the National Algae Association said that “the DOE’s Aquatic Species Program has completely failed in any commercialization efforts. For years, they focused their research on algae raceway ponds and not on any of the more advanced growing, harvesting and extraction systems.” The group contended, in a statement released on the wires last week, “Algae raceway ponds will never be used for industrial algae production.”

“Two of the biggest problems that were encountered were contamination and low productivity,” The NAA said. “Many years later, those problem have still not been resolved, and many raceway pond algae growers, equipment providers and construction companies that built raceway ponds over the years have not only have confirmed these problems but have ended up building and patenting closed-loop algae growing systems. The vast majority have moved away from standard raceway ponds and into commercial PBR’s and industrial growing systems that eliminate most of the contamination problems and can generate much larger volumes.” The NAA noted that, at its NAA Test Center, it has focused on lowering CAPEX and increasing productivity associated with closed systems, and have tested turnkey commercial growing, harvesting and extraction systems.

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