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Algae have a unique set of characteristics, which make its production more efficient and environmentally friendly than traditional crops.
• Algae produce 6,000 gallons of oil and 98 tonnes of meal per hectare annually. (More than any other type of agriculture.)
• Algae growth adsorbs large amounts of CO2 in its growth (154 tonnes of CO2 absorbed from the atmosphere per hectare annually).
• Algae represent the 3rd generation of renewables that utilize marginal lands not suitable for agriculture.
• Algae recycle 97% of all water in the growth and harvest process.
• Algal oil is suitable for use in all existing refinement and distribution infrastructure.
• Algae meal is high in protein (39%) and suitable for use as an animal feed and nutritional supplement.
Below is a chart comparing Aquatic’s algal oil production to traditional crops:
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History and Feasibility of Algae Production
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) studied the feasibility and benefits of producing algae as a viable fuel feed stock. The report from NREL’s Aquatic Species Program (ASP), published in 1996, concluded that algae is among the best and most productive feedstocks available in the biofuel industry. However, in the late 1990’s, algal oil production technology was under developed and petroleum crude oil was still too inexpensive for algal oil to be competitive in the market. It was decided that the price of conventional oil must exceed $59/barrel in order for algal oil to be feasible, which in the mid-90s seemed an unreachable price-floor standard. Recently, as the global economy changed, so has the raw cost of crude oil, launching it beyond algae oil’s base competitive price. With this change in the fundamentals of crude oil pricing, Aquatic’s focus became the develop and commercialization of low cost algae production technology.
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