Blatant Reality

I had no idea but it looks like South Carolina has an algae biofuel company of its own. This company, Renewed World Energies, is building a new facility right in Georgetown County that will be fully operational by mid to late 2010.

A recent press release hints that Renewed World Energies is ahead of the crowd of other algae biofuel companies in successfully commercializing its technology.

That’s where a company like Renewed World Energies (RWE) comes in. RWE has not only tapped algae, it has gone further to create a practical method of channeling carbon pollution to grow algae. While other companies are solely focusing on energy alternatives, RWE is looking at how algae can shape multiple industries at multiple levels. Richard Armstrong and Tim Tompkins founded the company just over a year ago but began designing a system six years prior. Today, RWE has the first commercially viable, closed system and automated microalgae production facility known to date. The South Carolina-based company’s target is a new era of mass adoption of biofuel. In addition to capturing nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide from flue gas (bulk compressed CO2 can also be used) emitted from the power generation industry and any CO2 emitting industrial plants, the system asserts to be able to grow and harvest the microalgae. The harvested algae can be used as is or it can be further processed into other products. Should the system deliver as projected, its use by industrial companies could assist in reducing their carbon footprints and provide a useable alternative energy source.

 

The diversity contained in algae’s properties makes it one of the most distinctive and soon to be coveted plants for its extensive range of applications. RWE’s system yields two usable forms of algae: oil and cake. The oil and the cake produced from the numerous strains currently utilized by the company will be used in everything from pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and cosmetics, organic feed, organic fertilizer, and used as a feed for the aquaculture industry. RWE also hopes to provide oil on a commercial level for JP-8 jet propellant diesel fuel. In this sense, RWE will serve as a source and not the actual processor. The result is cleaner air, high quality, commercially valuable algae biomass, a highly nutritious feedstock source and clean energy alternatives.

 

Algae companies are popping up all over, so who will be the first to the finish? Better-known competitors have forecasted that they are still three to five years out, while RWE is on the forefront of research and development, and the fast track to capturing the market. RWE’s system technology edges out competitors as it is the only fully automated and modular photo-bioreactor currently available.

 

Arguably, algae is the most sustainable energy alternative with life-sustaining and viable applications that enhance a variety of aspects of our well-being. Renewed World Energies’ ability to create a tangible mass producer of algae oil stands at the gateway to a functional form of algae-based fuel and virtually endless uses of biomass.

I will be sure to follow RWE closely and keep you updated as things progress.