Blatant Reality

New Zealand based LanzaTech recently announced that they have successfully produced a necessary component to create polymers, plastics, and fuels from their unique fermentation process.

For those unfamiliar with LanzaTech, it is a company looking to utilize industrial waste gases and waste products like trash to produce biofuels, particularly ethanol. In the process, they combine both the waste gases and waste products in a fermentation unit where proprietary microbes use these materials to create the fuel.

LanzaTech’s process differs from other ethanol production processes including the corn ethanol production process that many are familiar. Whereas corn ethanol is based off the sugars found in a corn kernel, LanzaTech’s process is based off converting carbon monoxide into ethanol using the energy found in waste products. Additionally, other gas-to-fuel processes need a large source of hydrogen but LanzaTech’s process does not, allowing it to make use of hydrogen-deficient waste gas sources like steel mills.

This recent announcement signals the first time the polymer, plastic and fuel component 2,3-Butanediol has been created from waste gas resources in an industrial setting.

This adds another dimension to the company, allowing it to not only create biofuels, but also create various chemical components in an environmentally friendly way.

“Lanzatech is now able to offer an integrated waste gas to fuels and chemicals technology that is both economically and environmentally sound,” Dr Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech says. “Commercial viability of novel routes requires the integration of diverse approaches. This development means our process can deliver considerable financial returns from the sale of high value products while curbing industrial greenhouse gas emissions.”

As a side note, New Zealand is home to several promising biofuel companies. In addition to LanzaTech, one should also keep an eye on the algae biofuel company Aquaflow that is looking to grow and harvest wild algae in open ponds to create fuel and various fuel components.

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Story Originally posted on Celsias.com

Seambiotic and Rosetta Green have announced that they will collaborate to try to find new strains of algae suitable for the biofuel industry. Essentially, Rosetta Green will identify the strains and Seambiotic will test the identified strains.

Here is the press release from Rosetta Green for more information:

Press Release Source: Rosetta Green On Monday July 26, 2010, 9:27 am EDT

REHOVOT and ASHKELON, Israel, July 26, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Rosetta Green, a company specializing in the identification of unique genes in plants and algae for the cleantech and plant biotech industries and Seambiotic, a company specializing in the growth of algae at industrial scale, announced yesterday that they have signed a collaboration agreement to develop and test improved algal strains for the biofuel industry. According to the agreement, Rosetta Green will be responsible for the development of the strains and Seambiotic will be in charge of large scale algal growth and biofuel production.

The companies will initially focus on increasing the oil content of the algae and producing strains that can better withstand contamination. The companies have formed a joint steering committee that will be responsible for the management and operation of the collaboration. The proof of concept phase of the collaboration is anticipated to last about two years, during which the companies will explore the development of facilities for producing biofuel from algae on an industrial scale.

Rosetta Green is focused on the identification of unique genes that function as main control bio-switches; the company will make use of these technologies to develop algal strains with improved traits for biofuel production. Seambiotic is focused on industrial scale algal cultivation using flue gas from power stations to accelerate growth rate. Algae are considered the most promising feedstock for sustainable biofuel production, as they do not require arable land or potable water for growth. Additionally, algae have significantly higher biofuel productivity potential than land crops such as corn and soybean.

Amir Avniel, the CEO of Rosetta Green noted: “I am very pleased with this agreement; we have found a partner with world-leading skills who was impressed by our technologies and the large potential of Rosetta Green. This collaboration brings together two companies with unique and advanced capabilities. I have no doubt that biofuel from algae is currently the most promising potential alternative to fossil fuels. Most of the large oil companies in the world have already invested millions of dollars in the field due to its numerous advantages, especially as yields can be 300 to 500 fold higher than those of land plants. The U.S. administration has also invested hundreds of millions of dollars in this area after realizing its vast potential for reducing the dependence on foreign oil.”

Numerous companies worldwide are attempting to develop engineering and biological solutions for economic and sustainable production of biofuel from algae, but the joint initiative of Rosetta Green and Seambiotic is first of its kind as it combines the unique capabilities of both companies in algal growth, processing and advanced biotechnology.

Daniel Chinn, CEO of Seambiotic adds: “The agreement with Rosetta Green is another milestone in the development of the technology to make algae the next generation of biofuel crops. This sort of collaboration which brings together leading companies from complement art fields, such as Seambiotic and Rosetta Green, is the only way to successfully meet the challenges that lie ahead in the field.”

Almost everyone supports the development of new sources of energy. However, differing personal and political opinions on what constitutes “safe” or “economical” mean the requirements that these energy sources must meet are far from uniform. For example, many liberals focus on new energy technologies that emit less carbon while conservatives focus more on sources that would give our nation the ability to produce our energy domestically.

Both of these goals can be attained, but the question remains: what is the best path forward?

Many on the left want to see a tax levied on carbon, arguing that this will force the development of greener technologies.But at least one environmental researcher, highlighted in the July 2010 edition of Popular Science magazine, thinks that technology innovation, rather than government policies, will lead to new and greener energy sources.

Part of what alarms his critics is how un-alarmist his conclusions have turned out to be. For example, instead of using policy to change how people will behave in the future, [Jesse] Ausubel prefers exploring technological responses to what he believes people are going to do regardless. His favorite defense of this laissez-faire approach is to explain that, absent any policy dictating that it should happen, energy consumption over the past 100 years has steadily “decarbonized.” That is, humankind has moved to fuel sources with progressively better ratios of carbon atoms to hydrogen atoms–wood at 10:1, coal at 2:1, oil at 1:2, natural gas at 1:4 and, eventually (in the future Ausubel envisions) 100 percent hydrogen. He thinks technology inevitably improves things. “That’s not to say I don’t worry about the downsides of technology,” he says. “A lot of my work is about that. But my general interest is new and high-tech ways of dealing with problems.”

Ausubel rightly argues that over the years, technology has steadily been advancing and decarbonizing largely without government intervention, a concept that should continue in the future.

For examples supporting Ausubel’s argument, one does not have to look any further than the nuclear industry, where a trend of innovation can be seen with companies like Babcock & Wilcox looking to bring asmaller nuclear reactor to market. Their goal is to create a modular reactor that can easily be shipped to its destination for final assembly. The smaller size means using one-fifth of the staff a regular size reactor requires, a benefit that will significantly lower operation costs, which in turn means these reactors will allow smaller utilities to diversify their energy profiles.

That means more utilities may look into using nuclear energy, carbon-free technology that produced enough energy around the clock to serve as baseload power.

Additionally, recent technological innovations in the algae biofuel industry could lead to major advances in the hydrogen field. An algae biofuel technology company recently announced that they had developed a method to cheaply ‘harvest’ hydrogen from algae, a method that scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory called “the ‘Holy Grail’ of the hydrogen economy.”

Examples of innovations like these in the energy industry are happening frequently and largely without government intervention. With talk about a new climate/energy bill being written, Congress needs to remember that it should not try to force technological advances but instead should focus on creating a climate where innovation is encouraged.

Ultimately, instead of the heavy hand of the government steering the development of our energy technologies by artificially affecting the price of energy through carbon taxes or selective subsidies, we should let the private sector do what it does best: innovate and commercialize, two things that will benefit everyone in the process.

Originally posted on American Solutions

OriginOil announced today that they will receive their first payment from their first customer for the shipment of their Quantum Fracturing System. The is all part of a deal that OriginOil has with Australian Energy company MBD, a deal they announced this past May.

Here is the latest press release detailing this transaction:

OriginOil Announces Revenue from First Customer
- Shipment of OriginOil Quantum Fracturing System to MBD Energy Triggers Payment -

Los Angeles, CA July 27, 2010 – OriginOil, Inc. (OOIL), the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum, today announced that it recently notified MBD Energy Limited that it is ready to ship a Quantum Fracturing™ System, the first unit in a multi-phase commercialization program. The notification triggers a payment under a purchase order from the Australia-based customer.

“This is a major milestone for OriginOil and represents our first revenue event,” said Riggs Eckelberry, CEO. “We are excited to support MBD Energy, a leader in the global race to help coal-fired power plants absorb their massive CO2 emissions using algae.”

Recently, OriginOil notified MBD Energy that it is ready to ship a Quantum Fracturing System, designed to maximize algae CO2 absorption with minimal energy, to MBD Energy’s research and development facility at James Cook University in Queensland, Australia. The company’s Single-Step Extraction™ System, designed to efficiently separate algae oil from its biomass, will be the next deliverable and will trigger another payment under the purchase order.

In May, the parties agreed on a multi-phase commercialization program under which OriginOil will supply MBD Energy with its algae-to-oil technology platform in progressively larger installations. Subject to the success of the initial test phase, MBD will purchase significantly larger systems to serve its power station projects in Australia, beginning with a one-hectare pilot plant at Tarong Power Station in South Eastern Queensland, and expanding to full production sites at all three of MBD’s power station projects in Australia.

According to MBD Energy, each of its power station projects has the potential to grow to 80-hectare commercial plants, each capable of producing 11 million liters of oil for plastics and transport fuel, and 25,000 tonnes of drought?proof animal feed annually. MBD Energy estimates that the projects will eventually consume more than half of each power station’s flue-gas emissions.

OriginOil’s Quantum Fracturing System breaks down nutrients such as CO2 into micro-particles that stay suspended in water longer, allowing algae to feed more efficiently. The Single-Step Extraction system is the first commercial “wet” extraction system, able to separate algae oil from its biomass without costly and energy-intensive dewatering operations.

About OriginOil, Inc. (web address: www.originoil.com)
OriginOil, Inc. is developing a breakthrough technology that will transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum. Much of the world’s oil and gas is made up of ancient algae deposits. Today, our technology will produce “new oil” from algae, through a cost-effective, high-speed manufacturing process. This endless supply of new oil can be used for many products such as diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, plastics and solvents without the global warming effects of petroleum. Other oil producing feedstock such as corn and sugarcane often destroy vital farmlands and rainforests, disrupt global food supplies and create new environmental problems. Our unique technology, based on algae, is targeted at fundamentally changing our source of oil without disrupting the environment or food supplies.

About MBD Energy Limited (web address: www.mbdenergy.com)
MBD is an Australia-based public, unlisted technology company. One of the world’s largest mining companies, Anglo American, became a cornerstone investor in MBD in 2009 and Anglo Coal’s Global CEO, Seamus French, has recently joined as a non-executive director of MBD Energy. The MBD Energy Board is chaired by former BHP Chairman, Jerry Ellis. MBD has a joint research and development facility located at James Cook University (JCU), Townsville, Queensland. MBD Energy and its JCU team are regarded as international leaders in the use of captured flue-gases as feedstock to produce algal biomass for Bio-CCS. In addition to the project at Tarong Power Station, MBD Energy currently has two similar projects underway with Loy Yang Power in Victoria and Eraring Energy in New South Wales. MBD Energy is a founding member of the Bio CCS program. The program is made up of a number of regional projects with each targeting 50 million tonnes of greenhouse gas sequestration per year by 2020.

Yesterday, the DOE announced another multi-million dollar grant with large portions going towards algae research. The goal of this latest round of grants focuses on carbon capture. Here are some of the details:

DOE announced Thursday $106 million in Recovery Act funding for six corporate projects that will research the potential to use CO2 as an inexpensive raw material.

(…)

DOE describes the projects, in six different states, that will provide $156 million in private matching funds:

1. Alcoa, Inc. (Alcoa Center, Pa.)—Alcoa’s pilot-scale process will demonstrate the high efficiency conversion of flue gas CO2 into soluble bicarbonate and carbonate using an in-duct scrubber system featuring an enzyme catalyst… Alcoa will demonstrate and optimize the process at their Point Comfort, Texas aluminum refining plant. (DOE Share: $11,999,359)
2. Novomer Inc. (Ithaca, N.Y.)—Teaming with Albemarle Corporation and the Eastman Kodak Co., Novomer will develop a process for converting waste CO2 into a number of polycarbonate products (plastics) for use in the packaging industry….Novomer has secured site commitments in Rochester, NY, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Orangeburg, SC and Ithaca, NY where Phase 2 work will be performed. (DOE Share: $18,417,989)
3. Touchstone Research Laboratory Ltd. (Triadelphia, W. Va.)—This project will pilot-test an open-pond algae production technology that can capture at least 60 percent of flue gas CO2 from an industrial coal-fired source to produce biofuel and other high value co-products….The host site for the pilot project is Cedar Lane Farms in Wooster, Ohio. (DOE Share: $6,239,542)
4. Phycal, LLC (Highland Heights, Ohio)—Phycal will complete development of an integrated system designed to produce liquid biocrude fuel from microalgae cultivated with captured CO2…. Phycal will design, build, and operate a CO2-to-algae-to-biofuels facility at a nominal thirty acre site in Central O’ahu (near Wahiawa and Kapolei), Hawaii…. (DOE Share: $24,243,509)
5. Skyonic Corporation (Austin, Texas)—Skyonic Corporation will continue the development of SkyMine® mineralization technology—a potential replacement for existing scrubber technology…The project team plans to process CO2-laden flue gas from a Capital Aggregates, Ltd. cement manufacturing plant in San Antonio, Texas. (DOE Share: $25,000,000)
6. Calera Corporation (Los Gatos, Calif.)—Calera Corporation is developing a process that directly mineralizes CO2 in flue gas to carbonates that can be converted into useful construction materials. An existing CO2 absorption facility for the project is operational at Moss Landing, Calif., for capture and mineralization. (DOE Share: $19,895,553)

Here is the DOE’s original Press Release

Last week, the Algae Industry Magazine announced that it has formed a Science and Industry Advisory Board that included some of the big names in the algae field. One of the members on this board is none other than OriginOil’s new CTO Brian Goodall. Here is OriginOil’s press release announcing his inclusion in AIM’s advisory board:

OriginOil Chief Technology Officer Joins Algae Industry Magazine Science and Industry Advisory Board
- Dr. Brian Goodall, Distinguished Scientist and Global Technologist, Joins Expert Panel -

Los Angeles, CA July 21, 2010 – OriginOil, Inc. (OOIL), the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum, has announced that Algae Industry Magazine has appointed OriginOil Chief Technology Officer Dr. Brian Goodall to its Science and Industry Advisory Board.

“We congratulate Dr. Goodall, who has played a crucial role in advancing the algae biofuels industry throughout the years, as his experience and history will be invaluable to the Science and Industry Advisory Board,” said Riggs Eckelberry, OriginOil’s CEO.

Algae Industry Magazine (A.I.M.) reports on the growth and development of the algae biofuels and co-products industry and serves as a forum for those involved in a sustainable energy future. It has now assembled algae industry leaders to analyze and provide guidance on technology and controversial issues in the algae biofuels and co-products industry.

“With this panel, we intend to bring a reality filter to the information being passed along to the readers, in order to better advance the algae production industry with reliable data and credible achievements,” stated A.I.M. publisher David Schwartz.

The advisory board for Algae Industry Magazine also includes several leading industry experts from North America. Some of these individuals are Charles Bensinger, SFCC Biofuels Program Director; Russell Chapman, Executive Director of the Scripps Institute; Ben Cloud, CEO of Phyco BioScience; Robert Henrikson, former CEO of Earthrise; Alina Kulikowski-Tan, Vice President of Carbon Capture Corporation; Ike Levine, Assistant Professor from the University of S. Maine; and Jim Sears, the CTO of Algae@Work.

With a career spanning more than 30 years in both the U.S. and Europe, Dr. Goodall has held senior positions in multinational companies such as the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, B.F. Goodrich and Rohm & Haas. He has been credited with over 80 patents and 60 published papers in the scientific journals. While Vice President of Downstream Technology at Sapphire Energy, Inc., he worked with Continental Airlines in helping to achieve the first U.S. commercial demo flight using an algae-oil blend.

Be sure to check out the article I wrote last week based off an interview I had with Dr. Goodall about OriginOil’s “Hydrogen Harvester”

A couple weeks ago, I wrote an article about a study released by Cambridge algae researchers.

Here is a video to follow up on that showing the many different aspects of algae that researchers there are studying:

Algae Industry Magazine announced last week that they had created a Science and Industry Advisory Board with some of the Algae Field’s heavy hitters. Take a look at their release:

Santa Fe, New Mexico – July 16, 2010 – Algae Industry Magazine (A.I.M.) has selected their Science and Industry Advisory Board. This panel of top industry professionals has been assembled to analyze and advise A.I.M. publishers regarding technology and controversial issues in the algae biofuels and co-products industry.

“In this rapidly developing industry it is extremely beneficial to have the diverse talents and deep experience of this panel to assist us in bringing the most relevant and accurate information to our readers and the industry,” said A.I.M. publisher David Schwartz.

Chairing the panel is Arizona State University professor and award winning author, (Green Algae Strategies) Dr. Mark Edwards. According to Dr. Edwards, “As in many new industries, performance claims and growth projections vary widely and sometimes do not serve the industry at large. With this panel, we intend to bring a reality filter to the information being passed along to the readers, in order to better advance the algae production industry with reliable data and credible achievements.”

The A.I.M. Science and Industry Advisory Board:
· Mark Edwards – Board Chair, Professor, Arizona State U.
· Charles Bensinger – SFCC Biofuels Program Director
· Russell Chapman – Executive Director CMBC, Scripps Institution
· Ben Cloud – CEO, Phyco BioSciences
· Brian Goodall – CTO, OriginOil
· Robert Henrikson – Ex-CEO Earthrise
· Alina Kulikowski-Tan – VP, Carbon Capture Corporation
· Ira Levine – Associate Professor, U. of S. Maine
· Jim Sears – CTO, Algae@Work

In welcoming the new board, A.I.M. publisher William Laski added, “We are extremely grateful that this esteemed panel has volunteered to oversee critical information being circulated to the industry through our algae industry publication.”

AlgaeIndustryMagazine.com, with offices in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and San Diego California, is the online trade publication addressing the growth and development of the algae biofuels and co-products industry.

Hydrogen is often hailed as the ultimate alternative fuel but many problems from high production costs to inefficient storage methods need to be resolved first. However, even if all the problems involving the development of a hydrogen economy were fixed today, it would still be several decades before a hydrogen infrastructure would be in place that compared to our current petroleum infrastructure.

That is why alternatives like algae biofuels that can run in our current engines and can be used in the current infrastructure are being looked at in the near-long term future.

As mentioned before, one of the major roadblocks on the road to a hydrogen economy is the cost to produce hydrogen. If hydrogen is to become a viable fuel source, it will need to be produced cheaply. This is where an announcement by an algae technology company last week may bring the production problem one-step closer to a solution.

OriginOil, a Los Angeles based algae oil technology company, issued a press release stating that they had developed a “Hydrogen Harvester” that cheaply collects hydrogen molecules given off by algae.

This announcement could prove significant for both the hydrogen and algae fuel sectors. First off, the idea of using algae to produce hydrogen has been around for a while. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has been looking at various techniques to stimulate hydrogen production in algae. However, up until this point, most of these methods were in some way detrimental to the health of algal cell.

OriginOil’s process, on the other hand, does not seem to harm the algae. In fact, their process allows the algae to produce oil, biomass, AND hydrogen simultaneously. In a 2005 NREL document titled “New Horizons for Hydrogen – Producing Hydrogen from Renewable Resources”, researchers said that if photosynthetic microorganism production of hydrogen became feasible, it would truly be “the ‘Holy Grail’ of the hydrogen economy.”

With this announcement, it’s possible that this could be the “Holy Grail” many hydrogen researchers have been looking for, a discovery that has many at OriginOil excited.

“I honestly do feel that we have a landmark discovery here,” said Brain Goodall, Chief Technology Officer of OriginOil. “[Our method] is something that as far as I can tell, no one has looked at before and the reason that we did is because we have some very creative, hands-on people.”

While expectedly guarded on details, the basic process would take any species of algae growing in either a bioreactor or open ponds and run the still living algae through the “Hydrogen Harvester”. There, in a process that OriginOil is currently working on patenting, the algae would release hydrogen to be collected.

“We’re using the same algae and the same sunlight [to] produce biomass, oil, and hydrogen,” Goodall explained. “We think that with this breakthrough discovery, further development and scale ups could lead to a situation where you are using completely ‘green’ hydrogen… [all] coming from sunlight.”

As hinted at before, the species of algae also does not seem to be a factor in whether or not hydrogen can be produced using OriginOil’s process.

“As far as we have seen to date, it should work with any algae,” Goodall explained.

With this technology not being reliant on specific species of algae, OriginOil is looking to make sure that their harvester system will have “plug & play” capabilities where it can be incorporated into almost any algae production process, be it open ponds, bioreactors, or otherwise.

As for the quantity of hydrogen that can be produce, the exact amount has yet to be seen and will most likely depend on the species of algae as well as growth factors like exposure to sunlight. However, Goodall is very optimistic that the amounts will be significant and that the process should be scalable without too many problems.

“Right now, it looks like a lot of hydrogen is coming out [of the algae] and the rate of production seems to be pretty constant over several hours. The algae aren’t dying and are remaining viable and robust [plus] we are not putting any energy in and hydrogen is coming out.”

Goodall clarified that additional energy is involved in the process since the algae still needs to be moved throughout the Hydrogen Harvester system. However, all the energy needed for the algae to actually produce the hydrogen can be obtained freely from the sun.

While using hydrogen produced from this method for transportation would still be a long way off, it can actually help in the immediate future with the production of algae biofuels. To produce algae biodiesel or biofuel, the oil needs to be hydrotreated using hydrogen. Currently, hydrogen would either have to be shipped to algae production facilities or the raw algae oils would have to be taken to where the hydrogen is (most likely at other refineries). The production of hydrogen onsite will allow for some flexibility in where the refining of algal oils take place as well as offer some cost-cutting abilities.

Overall, this breakthrough offers the potential to leapfrog both the hydrogen and algae industries forward. With OriginOil being an algae technology company and not an actual algae producer, whatever technology they create will be available to market to the industry as a whole. Therefore, a discovery like this has the potential to be benefit not just one company, but the entire algae biofuel industry.

Originally posted at Celsias.com

By now, most people paying attention to energy issues have heard about algae biofuels. These fuels have the potential to not only allow the United States to produce significant percentages of fuel domestically, but do so without having to change the transportation infrastructure currently in place.

It is for these reasons that the United States’ government has taken interest in algal fuels and has made several large investments for their continued research and development, several of which originating from the U.S. Department of Energy.

In addition to the numerous research grants over the past couple years, the DOE also hosted a workshop in December 2008 titled the “Algal Biofuels Technology Roadmap Workshop.” This workshop hosted over 200 researchers, government representatives, and industry leaders in the algae fuel sector to discuss the obstacles that algae will need to overcome in order to become a viable commercial fuel.

Following this workshop, the DOE helped compile all the ideas from the participants into a report they titled the “National Algal Biofuels Technology Roadmap.” The rough draft was released last summer with revisions and suggestions taking place since then.

After taking almost a year to edit the draft, the DOE released the finalized version of the roadmap in the last week of June 2010. This 125 plus page document outlines what will need to be done in order for algae to become a commercially available fuel.

The goal of the final version of this “roadmap” is “to lay down the first comprehensive state of technology for fuels and co-products from algae feedstock and to document the feasibility and techno-economic challenges associated with commercial scaling up processes” (Page 5 in the “Overview” Chapter).

This document does an extremely good job at succinctly acknowledging the many technological “roadblocks” that the algae industry will need to get around while suggestion the industry focus on specific areas of research that will ultimately lead to successful commercialization of  algal products. From basic algal cell biology to commercialized algal product economics, this roadmap ensures that no aspect of the algae industry remains unaddressed.

The New York Times had an article announcing the release of the final version of the technology roadmap in which Al Darzins of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory summarized the message of the report:

“One thing that comes across loud and clear [in the report] … is that the path to algal biofuels commercialization will not be totally dependent on any one unit operation or technology but rather on the industry’s ability to string together or ‘integrate’ robust and scalable technology solutions into an entire process (i.e., soup to nuts) that makes sense from a sustainability, policy and cost perspective,” he said.

The great news is that the entire document has been made available to the public for FREE!

I would highly recommend anyone interested in algae fuels to check this document out since it does a great job compiling all the major obstacles and listing them in one place:

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/pdfs/algal_biofuels_roadmap.pdf

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Article originally posted on Celsias.com