Algae bioreactors receive approval for Australian facility

Algae.Tec, an algae production company, has received approval for its demonstration facility in Shoalhaven, New South Wales, Australia.

The facility was approved under the Shoalhaven City Council Environment Planning and Assessment Act and the plant will be used to capture carbon dioxide waste from power stations and manufacturing facilities, feeding the pollution into the algae growth system.

The plant will be located next to Manildra Group’s industrial facility, the company behind the biggest production of ethanol in Australia.

‘The Algae.Tec algae photo-reactors will take a carbon dioxide feed from the ethanol fermenters into the algae growth system,’ says Algae.Tec executive chairman Roger Stroud. ‘Algae.Tec is one of few advanced biofuels companies globally with an enclosed modular engineered technology designed to grow algae on an industrial scale and produce biofuels that replace predominantly imported fossil fuels for transportation use.’

The photo-bio reactors are being made in the company’s fabrication facility in Atlanta, Georgia and Algae.Tec says the technology is able to ‘produce algae biomass in virtually any environment on the planet’.