Algae Researchers and Private Industry Are Working in Open Collaboration to Find Algae Bloom and HAB Remediation Solutions.

by Barry Cohen (National Algae Association) Continuous and devastating algae blooms & HAB problems are affecting fishing, swimming, tourism, real estate values and local economies. NAA today is encouraging algae researchers to focus their efforts on 'algae bloom and HAB remediation research' and to work with private industry to find immediate and long term commercial remediation solutions.

The National Algae Association just concluded the second Algae Bloom and HAB Remediation Workshop. Many thanks to the University of Toledo and to everyone who participated in making it such an overwhelming success. Amount of information that was shared at the workshop is overwhelming both in volume and quality. More importantly, the remediation technologies presented at the workshop have commercial deployment capabilities that can be implemented today to fight the continuous and devastating algae bloom and HAB problems springing up in many waterways, canals and lakes. Human and animal health is at risk. NAA believes that it will take an entire army of mixed algae and HAB research and remediation technology talent working in open collaboration to fix these devastating problems.

The algae industry for co-products was started 14 years ago privately and quietly after university algae researchers and lobbyists failed at scaling and deploy anything on a commercial basis according to the DOE Algae Biomass Program/BETO leadership. After $2.5 billion of taxpayer money spent on algae research for 75 years, none of the algae technologies were proven to scale outside the lab including algae biofuels.

Private industry realized years ago that continued algae research was no longer a requirement for commercialization and deployment of other coproducts and went about producing high quality algae biomass throughout the world. They rolled up their sleeves and began commercial algae production with no government assistance whatsoever and the industry is thriving today. Commercial algae producers around the world have been producing samples and tonnage for algae coproducts with COA’s to various ingredient and supply channels through NAA’s Algae Biomass Exchange, a meeting place for qualified algae producers and potential off-takers. These are the real algaepreneurs!

Now that commercial algae production has been proven around the world with tonnage of algae biomass and products available in the marketplace, NAA today is encouraging algae researchers to focus their efforts on 'algae bloom and HAB remediation research' and to work with private industry to find immediate and long term remediation solutions. We already know how to commercially cultivate algae correctly for high value products. You should now position yourselves to help identify solutions for the causes and commercial remediation technologies to address the devastating problems created by algae blooms and HABs in 50 states.

As the leaders in the algae industry, NAA has taken on a huge responsibility in the research and remediation of algae blooms and HABs that have been affecting waterways for decades. While university algae researchers and their lobbyists spend their time at luxury resort conferences reviewing the same information and abstracts discussed 75 years ago in the first algae study by conducted Carnegie Mellon, NAA's algae producers are commercially cultivating various high quality and high value products for sale and sequestering CO2 . In addition to commercial algae production our other members are now tackling some of the devastating algae bloom and HAB problems affecting waterways, fishing, swimming, real estate values and local economies. As commercial remediation technologies are identified and deployed, licensing opportunities are occurring, contacts are being offered and potential new products are being made from the dewatered blooms as a new potential profit center to our industry. NAA’s goal is to identify and immediately highlight commercial remediation algae bloom and HAB remediation technologies for canals, rivers and lakes using a holistic approach between stakeholders, research, testing, monitoring and commercial remediation to tackle the many different problems in the US and around the world. We can no longer base things on the intent of algae research…we need real results outside the lab.

Due to devastating events taking place in the State of Florida, the National Algae Association will be returning to Florida to facilitate another Algae Bloom and HAB Remediation Workshop in January 2020. For further information contact: barry@nationalalgaeassociation.com READ MORE