Aurora Algae reaches key milestones

Aurora Algae, an algae technology company, is working towards commercialising its algae-based platform for sustainable product development and has achieved a number of key construction and financing milestones on its way to accomplishing this goal.

The company received an initial AU$750,000 (€550,000) grant as part of a total Australian government grant of up to AU$2 million for hitting significant development milestones in the construction of its demonstration facility based in Western Australia. The plant has been built and algae production commissioned. The plant will be fully operational within 30 days.

Additionally, the company has also finished the build out of its new headquarters in the US, which includes a new lab and facility for product extraction and testing.

'Less than six months after first announcing our algae-based platform, we're several significant steps closer to commissioning production of our high-value, proprietary products, says Greg Bafalis, CEO of Aurora Algae. 'Our new facilities in Hayward and Australia were completed ahead of schedule and under budget, accelerating our ability to support and drive our initial customer and partner engagements. The combination of our proprietary algae strains and production process, combined with the ideal growing conditions of Western Australia will fundamentally change the economics of algae production.'

Aurora Algae has been awarded the AU$2 million grant as part of the Australian government's Low Emissions Energy Development (LEED) Fund, a Western Australia State programme to cut greenhouse gas emissions from local energy and industry.

'Algae biofuel production could reach 61 million gallons per year and a market value of $1.3 billion over the next decade. Rising oil prices and a corresponding increase in project investment could accelerate commercialization and expand production potential even further, and that is just for one end-market application,' says Mackinnon Lawrence, industry analyst, Pike Research. 'With global fresh water and protein shortages looming, governments and private industry will also be looking for sustainable and scalable alternatives to existing product platforms. Algae is one of the few biogenic platforms with the flexibility and potential scale to address global resource shortages in multiple product areas.'