December 13, 2007

Vertigro Releases Initial Results of Algae Test



The test was designed to test their algae growing equipment and showed some promising results.

The Vertigro Joint Venture has released initial test results from its high density bio mass (algae) field test bed plant located at its research and development facility in El Paso, Texas.

During a 90 day continual production test, algae was being harvested at an average of one gram (dry weight) per liter. This equates to algae bio mass production of 276 tons of algae per acre per year. Achieving the same biomass production rate with an algal species having 50% lipids (oil) content would therefore deliver approximately 33,000 gallons of algae oil per acre per year.


Pretty impressive results considering that the test was not optimized for yield or the best selection of algae species.

Glen Kertz and Dr. Aga Pinowska, who head the research and development program, commented, "This is a major milestone for us as we have demonstrated the robustness of the Bio Mass System with satisfactory production results from a system that has not yet been optimized for algae production, which will become part of the next phase of testing." They also noted, "We have learned how to produce a very large algal bio-mass under varying environmental and operating conditions in our continuous process photo bioreactors. We believe these initial results are amongst the best achieved to date, and we are confident we can now increase the productivity."


Initial Data From The Vertigro Field Test Bed Plant Reports Average Production Of 276 Tons Of Algae Bio Mass On A Per Acre/Per Year Basis

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