17-18 Nov, 2008 - Singapore, SINGAPORE
Swissotel Merchant Court Singapore
Swissotel Merchant Court Singapore
What’s the story behind Algae? Was it always cultivated as a source of energy?
The mass production of micro algae has been going on for the past 25 years, driven mainly by the incentives of trying to look for a cheap source of food, fuel and feed and eventually ended up with algal biomass being cultivated for high value products like omega 3 fatty acids and beta carotene. The ‘re-discovery’ of Algae as a source of fuel and energy came about because of the increasing costs of energy.
At least, that’s what Dr. Avigad Vonshak and Dr. Mark Edwards said at the “Real Story of Algae Biofuels” webinar, which went live to an audience of over 200 participants from all over the world on 29 October 2008.
The action packed webinar touched on several key controversies, issues, myths and misconceptions surrounding the Algae-Biofuels pathway.
Our guest expert, Dr. Avigad Vonshak, Director of the
Dr. Mark Edwards, director of GreenIndependence.org and author of the successful book “Green Algae Strategy” and moderator of the webinar was an interesting counter point to Dr. Vonshak with his optimism for the future of the industry.
Both Dr. Edwards and Dr. Vonshak expressed that the biggest gap in knowledge that is holding back the commercialisation of Algae Biofuels is how to set up a sustainable production system that can provide constant algae productivity that is cost efficient.
Dr Edwards and Dr. Vonshak proceeded to give their views on the future direction of the Algae Industry and what needs to be done, and emphasised the importance of needing the right know how on the type of algal strains to cultivate and the requirements of the cultivar before embarking on the algae project. Dr. Vonshak in particular emphasised the need for biological know-how to precede engineering solutions like photo bioreactors.
He stated with a touch of humour, “If you develop a photo bioreactor without knowing what type of algae you want to grow, you might end up tailoring a very fancy jacket to a size of person who doesn’t exist!”
Dr. Edwards then proceeded to quiz Dr. Vonshak on a variety of technical issues that were raised by the audience who had pre-submitted their questions. Some of the issues touched on included:
- Photo bioreactors- should one buy it off the shelf?
- The importance of proper Pond Management?
- Contamination in Algae projects-
- Yields per hectare
- Harvesting issues
- Algae’s role in CO2 Sequestration and Nitrogen Fixing
Dr. Vonshak's and Dr. Edwards' advice to new algae project developers was simple. They both agreed that the scale up was the secret to success, but before embarking on the scale up, project developers need to have good solid know-how of what they’re growing, and more critically, a good contact with a research scientist or group.
If you are already developing your own algae project, then take your cues from Dr. Vonshak, and sign up for Algae World 2008, happening on 17-18 November in
Dr. Vonshak & Dr. Edwards urged listeners to “GIVE ALGAE A CHANCE”. Both Dr. Edwards and Dr. Vonshak expressed their fear that Algae could be easily dismissed as a ‘failure’ due to poor know how in projects being developed, and urged project developers to attend conferences like Algae World 2008 to stay updated on all the latest developments in the industry and hear from all the key researchers in the field.
Missed out on this critical webinar? Want to hear all the important advice and insights that Dr. Vonshak & Dr. Edwards had for algae project developers and investors?
Don’t worry! Just visit our >>Algae Webinar Page<< to access the recording of this critical webinar.
