Aquaviridis and OriginOil form JV for Mexico development

Algae producer Aquaviridis has joined forces with OriginOil to develop a new technology that extracts oil from the algae and will develop this multi-phase production at its Mexicali site in Mexico.

Through the North American Free Trade Agreement, a region in the country has been put aside for such developments and OriginOil will help by harvesting and developing its algae cultivation technologies, as well as using the site as a testing area.

Commercial scale production is scheduled for the second quarter of next year, and the site chosen is expected to have good growing conditions, as well as positive local and government support.

OriginOil's vice president of marketing, Ken Reynolds, says: ‘The Mexicali Valley is a great place to develop an algae industry, given its climate and access to industry research and resources throughout North America. With the US as a neighbouring market for high value exports, Mexico is in an excellent position to take the lead in areas such as research and production of algae for nutritional products, animal feed, and oil for biofuels, which would create long-term regional economic growth and job production.’

Aquaviridis president Thomas Byrne says: ‘After evaluating OriginOil's portfolio, our technical team felt that OriginOil had some novel, scalable, and potentially game-changing technologies for algae harvesting and growth enhancement. Having the right partners and technologies is critical, as our expectation is to have this facility in revenue this year.’