Blue Marble Energy and Bionavitas Announce Partnership to Produce Industrial Biochemicals from Microalgae
Seattle, Wash., October 9, 2009 – Two of America’s leading renewable biochemical companies, Blue Marble Energy Corp. and Bionavitas, announced a partnership today in which Blue Marble Energy will produce high-margin biochemicals from microalgae supplied by Bionavitas. Blue Marble CEO Kelly Ogilvie officially announced the partnership at the 3rd Annual Algal Biomass Summit in San Diego.
Bionavitas, based in Redmond, Washington, has developed Light Immersion Technology™ (LIT™) that enables the rapid, cost-effective production of algae for environmental remediation, manufacturing health and nutraceutical products, and producing biofuels. Blue Marble Energy, based in Seattle, has developed a proprietary technology to produce a wide array of high-margin, carbon neutral specialty biochemicals from organic biomass. These biochemicals include esters, a group of chemicals used in food, fragrance, plastics, resins and adhesives.
“There is no question that algae are a key component of the solution and will help reduce our dependence on fossil fuels,” said Ogilvie. “But fuel isn’t the only useful product that can be developed using algae. While many people think of oil simply as a source of fuel, it is also an important component of almost everything we eat, drink, manufacture, and wear. With the efficient algae-production capability of Bionavitas, and our ability to convert that algae into specialty biochemicals, it was a natural step for our companies to partner."
“Our Light Immersion Technology gives us the ability to efficiently produce high quality algae that is uniquely suited for Blue Marble’s processing technology,” said Michael Weaver, CEO of Bionavitas. “We look forward to jointly pursuing commercialization opportunities for our combined technologies.”
Light Immersion Technology™ can be used to grow algae to remediate selenium, zinc, lead, cadmium, boron, mercury, and other undesirable elements and compounds from industrial waste streams. Blue Marble can then safely process the generated algae biomass into specialty biochemicals. The combination of these unique technologies places Blue Marble Energy and Bionavitas at the forefront of innovative clean technology solutions for numerous commercial applications.
About Blue Marble Energy
Blue Marble Energy is a Seattle-based company utilizing unique bacterial consortia to produce specialty biochemicals and renewable natural gas. BME’s mission is to produce drop-in replacements to petrochemicals which are safe, carbon-neutral, and fully sustainable. BME’s proprietary AGATE (Acid, Gas, and Ammonia Targeted Extraction) system processes nearly any organic feedstock, utilizing cultured strains of bacteria to perform fermentation (like brewing beer) to produce a wide variety of biochemicals. This solution will allow manufacturers to replace petroleum with renewable feedstocks and produce some of the chemical industry’s highest value products, including esters, amides and anhydrous ammonia. In addition to these biochemicals, the AGATE system generates renewable natural gas as a byproduct.
For more information, visit: www.bluemarbleenergy.net
About Bionavitas
Bionavitas is a Redmond, Washington-based bioscience company committed to revolutionizing the clean technology industry. Bionavitas harnesses the power of algae for biofuel production, health and nutraceutical products and environmental remediation. The company’s innovative, patent-pending Light Immersion Technology™ addresses the problem of algae “self-shading” by allowing more light to penetrate the algae biomass. This permits the algae to grow deeper and thicker, resulting in the more efficient and expansive algae production necessary for cost effective commercial applications.
More information is available at www.bionavitas.com.