BGU and Primafuel Announce Exclusive Licensing Agreement for Algae-based Renewable Fuels
BGU and Primafuel Announce Exclusive Licensing Agreement for Algae-based Renewable Fuels
January 20, 2009
Alternative Energy, Business & Management, Press Releases
Sde Boker — January 20, 2009 — Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), a world leader in algae production commercialization, has announced a multi-year, multi-million dollar technology-licensing and development agreement with Primafuel, Inc., a California-based company that develops renewable fuels.
The collaboration is focused on developing algae bio-refinery technologies for renewable fuels and high value co-products production.
According to Ora Horovitz, vice president of BGN Technologies, the technology transfer company at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, “This takes advantage of BGU’s unique microalgal research capabilities to explore new commercial applications, as well as any biofuels and co-products technology developed in the future.
The technology, photobioreactor and strain selection were developed at the Landau Family Microalgal Biotechnology Laboratory (MBL) at the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research at BGU’s Sde Boker campus.
The integrated team combines the University’s decades of microalgae expertise with Primafuel’s proprietary bio-refinery technologies. Prof. Sammy Boussiba, an internationally-recognized expert in algae research and genetic engineering, heads the MBL, working with more than two dozen scientists, researchers and engineers.
“This is an exceptional opportunity,” explains Boussiba, who also currently serves as president of the International Society of Applied Phycology (ISAP). “Algae research was once considered the fringe of the fringe, but finally, the world has come to see its incredible potential.”
BGU has successfully commercialized algae production systems for the feed and pharmacological markets, and has also developed one of the world’s largest production photobioreactor systems at Kibbutz Ketura near Eilat, Israel. Photobioreactors are large networks of transparent tubes filled with water and algae. The algae grow in sunlight.
“People are surprised that we can cultivate algae in the desert,” explains Prof. Boussiba, also the newly appointed director of the French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands at BGU’s Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research. “But it’s actually a green environment for growing algae. We have a lot of brackish water and sunshine. Plus, land is not expensive, and we’re remote from people and industry so we can avoid pollution.”
Boussiba has been working on the scientific challenges of turning algae into fuel since the mid 1980s, when the U.S. Department of Energy assigned the lab a project to evaluate micro algae as a source of lipids.
About Primafuel
Primafuel’s international team of award-winning technology experts deliver renewable fuels and high-value products to meet the world’s rapidly growing need for sustainable energy, chemicals and materials. Recent awards include a 2008 Technology Pioneer Award from the World Economic Forum, a 2008 Achievement Award from Biofuels Digest, and a ranking in the Hottest 50 Companies in Bioenergy. Privately-held and based in California, the company has operations in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia: www.primafuel.com.
ABOUT AMERICANS FOR BEN-GURION UNIVERSITY
By supporting a world-class academic institution that not only nurtures the Negev, but also shares its expertise locally and globally, Americans for Ben-Gurion University engages a community of Americans who are committed to improving the world. David Ben-Gurion envisioned that Israel’s future would be forged in the Negev. The cutting-edge research carried out at Ben-Gurion University drives that vision by sustaining a desert Silicon Valley, with the “Stanford of the Negev” at its center. The Americans for Ben-Gurion University movement supports a 21st century unifying vision for Israel by rallying around BGU’s remarkable work and role as an apolitical beacon of light in the Negev desert.
About Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev embraces the endless potential we have as individuals and as a commonality to adapt and to thrive in changing environments. Inspired by our location in the desert, we aim to discover, to create, and to develop solutions to dynamic challenges, to pose questions that have yet to be asked, and to push beyond the boundaries of the commonly accepted and possible.
We are proud to be a central force for inclusion, diversity and innovation in Israel, and we strive to extend the Negev’s potential and our entrepreneurial spirit throughout the world. For example, the multi-disciplinary School for Sustainability and Climate Change at BGU leverages over 50 years of expertise on living and thriving in the desert into scalable solutions for people everywhere.
BGU at a glance:
20,000 students | 800 senior faculty | 3 campuses | 6 faculties: humanities & social sciences, health sciences, engineering sciences, natural sciences, business & management, and desert research.
For all press inquiries, please contact:
James Fattal, J Cubed Communications
516.289.1496
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