Algenol launches algae project in India

Algenol and Reliance Industries have deployed India's first Algenol algae production platform.

The demonstration module is located near the world's largest refinery, Reliance Jamnagar Refinery.

The demonstration has completed several production cycles of Algenol's wildtype host algae, but may demonstrate the fuels production capabilities of Algenol's advanced fuel producing algae and systems. The Algenol fuel production process is designed to convert 1 tonne of CO² into 144 gallons of fuel while recycling CO² from industrial processes and converting 85% of the CO² used into ethanol, petrol, diesel and jet fuels.

'The initial project start-up and smooth transition begins to prove the viability of our technology in varying environments across the globe and the ability of partners to operate our production systems without Algenol's day-to-day involvement,' explains Paul Woods, founder and CEO of Algenol.

Construction of the system was completed in November of 2014 by Algenol and Reliance engineers and biologists. Shake-down runs and systems tests have been completed and several successful batches of algae have been grown. At this time, day-to-day operations of the project are managed solely by Reliance Industries, after Algenol provided training and operational support.