Algenie Emerges from Stealth with Next-Gen Bioreactor It Claims Can Unlock Algae’s Potential in Feed, Bioplastics, and Fuel

by Elaine Watson (Ag Funder News) ... So what makes Algenie—an Australian startup now emerging from stealth—think it can crack the code? It’s early days, but novel thin layer photobioreactors enabling dramatic improvements in efficiency and scalability could change the game, claims cofounder and CEO Nick Hazell, a former PepsiCo and Mars R&D exec who went on to found Sydney-based alt meat business v2food in 2019.

“At v2, we were excited about using algal protein pigments in plant-based meat and then quickly realized that the economics of growing algae were terrible,” says Hazell, who has just secured AUD1.1 million ($0.7 million) from the University of Technology Sydney, Better Bite Ventures, and other investors.

“So it was a case of what do we do?” he tells AgFunderNews. “Do we back away or get into the fundamentals of the physics of growing algae so we can make something that would cost a few cents per kilo of [alt] meat? And we succeeded.”

He adds: “The oil companies dropped algae biofuels like a hot potato when the economics didn’t add up, and the algae market today is focused on high value ingredients like omega-3s because it’s so expensive. But that’s because no one has really tackled the fundamental drivers of productivity.

“What we’re talking about at Algenie is growing microalgae in photobioreactors where we have total control and a full suite of genetic tools to maximize productivity, coupled with cheap renewables.”

“If you can get to a price close to crude oil, you can essentially replace petrochemicals.”

“The only way to get high productivity and low cost is to get the algae to their peak performance, keep them there, and harvest continuously,” says Hazell. “It’s manufacturing 101. With phototrophic systems, you’re in a great position to do that. If you’re in heterotrophic process, any organism that gobbles up sugar will be competing with your algae.”

In an indoor phototrophic process using LEDs rather than sunlight, he says, “You need CO2, the right photons, and a small amount of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. The principal cost of growing algae in this way is the cost of renewable energy for LEDs that provide the right photons in the right way, and the capital cost of photobioreactors. Renewable energy costs are continuing to go down, so the main problem to be solved is the capital cost of the reactors.”

He adds: “Existing photobioreactors are mainly tubular systems or flat plate systems. But with these systems, there’s no way you’re ever going to be able to do plastics or biofuels cost competitively because the capital costs are 10 times too high.”

Core to Algenie’s proposition is a novel photobioreactor and a continuous, patented, process whereby algae flows down a channel shaped into a continuous helix. Advanced LEDs provide optimal lighting conditions, driving rapid growth in a process Hazell claims can reduce production costs by a factor of ten. “Our aim is to get to $1 per kilo.”

Yes, the bottom line is you need renewables, but the capacity for Australia to generate renewable energy is huge.

Right now, Algenie has a prototype thin layer photobioreactor running in the basement of UTS, says Hazell.

“The idea is that through licensing we will enable lots of companies to use this technology without having to hire a biologist. So we will create and sell the photobioreactor and license the software, the elite algae strain and the unique operating conditions that will give you maximum productivity. READ MORE