Power and automation technology group ABB and Renewable Algal Energy LLC collaborate to commercialize integrated algal production systems.

This algal production system, developed and tested at RAE's facility in Arizona, will produce algae‐based products for the nutraceutical, animal nutrition and renewable fuels markets. The first commercial application is scheduled to start by the end of the year.

"We are honored that ABB has selected to work with RAE in the development of infrastructure for RAE's unique technology in complete integrated algal production systems," said Jeffrey S. Kanel, CEO of RAE. RAE will produce the equipment that harvests and extract algae and its co-products, including oils, proteins and carotenoids. The scalable systems are designed for medium- to large-scale algae farms.

"This solution offers a low cost, efficient process for the harvesting and extraction of algae and its co-products including oil." said Tobias Becker, head of control technologies of ABB.

A Veolia fish farm project in Australia, which uses heat from a landfill gas-to-energy facility, has won two Australian Business Awards: for Innovation and Sustainability.

The Australian Business Award (ABA) honors organizations that help in environmental or social improvements through their products, processes or ideas. Veolia was awarded the ABA for the use of energy from their landfill facility to their fish farm. This is the fifth consecutive year Veolia has won an ABA.

The energy used for the aquaculture project is from Veolia's Woodlawn Bioenergy facility, located near Goulburn, Australia. The facility currently generates 5 MW of electricity. Veolia is also selling farmed barramundi from their aquaculture project to shops and restaurants in nearby Canberra.

"We wanted the facility to be as sustainable as possible while taking advantage of every opportunity to turn everyday waste collected from homes and businesses across the State, into a resource," said Doug Dean managing director of Veolia Australia and New Zealand. "At present, the facility can produce up to 2.5 tonnes of barramundi each year, which contributes to sustainable food production within Australia," he added.

Thermophilic fungi were discovered to be promising sources of thermostable xylanases for industrial biofuel production. The present work, conducted by the team of Maria de Lourdes TM Polizeli from Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto in Brazil, reports on a thermostable xylanase (GH10) from the fungi Malbranchea pulchella and its potential application in biofuel production.

The MpXyn10A enzyme from Malbranchea pulchella was overexpressed in another fungi Aspergillus nidulans and was active against birchwood xylan, with optimum activity at pH 5.8 and 80°C. MpXyn10A also preserved 85% of its activity after 24 hours at 65°C. MpXyn10A showed promising results in biomass degradation.

Ying Li, from China Agricultural University, and her team have previously cloned a lipase gene from Rhizomucor miehei and expressed it in Pichia pastoris strain GS115. It produced the enzyme RML, which catalyzed methanolysis of soybean oil. However, the enzyme activity and amount of enzyme produced were not enough for industrial application. Li and her team now aim to improve the properties of RML to apply it to biofuel production.

Pichia pastoris strain X-33 was improved by adding propeptide to the target gene, optimizing its signal peptide and varying the number of target gene copies inserted. The highest enzyme activity were observed in the strain with two copies of the target gene. The enzyme it produced was termed Lipase GH2. This enzyme had improved thermostability as well as methanol and ethanol tolerance. The conversion rate of microalgae oil to biofuel was above 90% after 24 hours of reaction at 30°C.

Results show that signal peptide optimization in the expression plasmid, addition of the gene propeptide, and proper gene dosage significantly increased enzyme production and enhanced the enzyme's properties. The modified enzyme is potentially applicable for industrial-scale biodiesel production.