In Florida, Miami University microbiologists Rachael Morgan-Kiss and Xin Wang received a $750,000 grant from the Department of Energy to research how Antarctic algae use an alternative pathway during photosynthesis. This pathway helps the algae to survive different environmental conditions such as light stress, high salinity and extremely low temperatures. Photosynthetic microbes such as algae […]
In France, AgTech firm Sapec is acquiring a 31% stake in Algaia, S.A.’s algae-based business and “strengthening its shareholding structure.” Algaia owns a novel and proprietary technology allowing the Biorefinery of brown algae not only into Alginates but also in other valuable compounds such as Biostimulants for the crop nutrition industry. Algaia is a global […]
The Farm Bill of 2018 recognizes algae as a crop for the first time. Will we be bold enough to treat it like one? By Dr. Rebecca White, Vice President of Operations, iWi (Qualitas Health, Inc.) Special to The Digest This Wednesday marks a major milestone in the history of the American algae industry: the […]
In Minnesota, Algae Biomass Organization opened a call for abstracts for their 2019 Algae Biomass Summit to be held September 16-19, 2019 in Orlando, Florida with a deadline of January 31, 2019. Commercial algae producers, algae product developers, and the scientific community are invited to share their milestones in: Microalgae and macroalgae research and technology […]
In China, research team led by the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has discovered two novel diacylglyceryl transferases (DGAT2s) that preferentially attach linoleic acid (LA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), respectively, to the glycerol backbone to form triacylglycerol from algae. By modulating the ratio of these specialist enzymes […]
The 2018 Farm Bill, more formally known as the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 was signed by President Trump on Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue’s birthday last week. So what does it mean? What stays the same? What changes? What’s the reaction? First, you can see what President Trump had to say at the signing […]
In Indonesia, researchers are investigating ways to improve biodiesel production by using electrical fields to break open microalgae cells with varied results, according to a new study in the Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology. Lipids inside microalgae are a promising source of biofuel. Microalgae cells must first be broken apart in order to extract […]
In Japan, results from a collaborative study by Tokyo Tech and Tohoku University, Japan, raise prospects for large-scale production of algae-derived starch, a valuable bioresource for biofuels and other renewable materials. Such bio-based products have the potential to replace fossil fuels and contribute to the development of sustainable systems and societies. A “switch” controlling the […]
In Germany, scientists from Ruhr-Universität Bochum succeeded for the first time in understanding how certain algae enzymes produce hydrogen by reproducing the pathway of the protons to the active center of these [FeFe] hydrogenases. This could allow such efficient but vulnerable biocatalysts to be chemically more stable. The hydrogenases produce two protons and two electrons […]
Mazda is investing in it. Honda is using it for R&D and potential byproducts. Algenol, AlgaEnergy and others grow and develop it. Euglena began producing it for biojet fuel at its new biofuel refinery plant in Japan. The U.S. government has a whole R&D department that is looking at this stuff. The list goes on. […]
