Announcements

OriginOil CEO and President Riggs Eckelberry announced this partnership during a speaking engagement at the National Algae Association’s fifth quarterly meeting, in which he discussed potential gains from this technology breakthrough. Eckelberry’s presentation from the conference can also be found on the OriginOil website.

“Desmet Ballestra is an early leader in the implementation and sale of full-scale algae extraction systems. With Desmet Ballestra as a worldwide partner, OriginOil can begin commercializing its algae-to-oil technology on a global scale,” said Riggs Eckelberry, CEO of OriginOil. “Like most current algae oil extraction systems on the market, the Desmet systems are quite expensive. Our patent-pending Single-Step Oil Extraction technology will help Desmet Ballestra create a more cost-efficient algae oil extraction system. In early studies, Desmet and OriginOil have estimated that energy efficiency gains may reach 90% in certain configurations.”

“We are looking forward to working with OriginOil on a partnership that we believe will be mutually beneficial,” said Desmet Ballestra North America president and CEO Timothy G. Kemper. “We are enthusiastically modeling the use of OriginOil’s Single Step Extraction technology in commercial algal oil extraction systems, and expect to announce further industry-impacting details in the months to come.”

Conventional algae oil extraction systems use petrochemical or alcohol solvents to extract algae oil. In this process, the largest amount of energy consumption comes from the initial steps of dewatering and drying the algal biomass. The novel OriginOil Single Step Extraction technology, however, allows the oil to be separated from the algal biomass in water with no dewatering or drying steps. As a result, substantial electrical and thermal energy can be saved.

The OriginOil Single Step Extraction technology also requires significantly less capital expenditure per ton of oil extracted. Conventional oil extraction systems utilizing petrochemical and alcohol solvents are rather complex and need to be large-scaled to keep the capital cost per ton of oil within reason. In contrast, the OriginOil Single Step Extraction technology does not require a petrochemical solvent, such as hexane, which is known to require an extensive permitting process before implementation, thus allowing for a more cost-effective production of algal oil.

Desmet Ballestra is a private company based in Zaventem, Belgium, serving the seed crushing, oil refining, oleochemical, surfactant, and detergent markets. It has operations in Egypt, Nigeria, Sudan, Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Mexico, the United States, China, India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates, Belgium, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. More information can be found on the Desmet Ballestra website: www.desmetballestra.com.