GreenFuel inks $92m algae-farming deal

Algae farming biofuels start-up GreenFuel Technologies is teaming up with Spanish engineering company Aurantia to build a $92m greenhouse plant in Spain to grow algae for recycling industrial CO2 emissions into high-value feeds, foods and fuels.

The project consists of a series of development stage, which could eventually scale to 100 hectares of algae-farming greenhouses producing 25,000 tonnes of biomass per year. The greenhouses are sited at Aurantia’s Holcim cement plant near Jerez in Spain.

The next phase of the Aurantia-GreenFuel project at Holcim will be the construction of a 1,000m2 algae greenhouse and harvesting facilities adjacent to the cement plant. In the meantime, GreenFuel and Aurantia will continue to test algae growth rates with the cement plant’s flue gasses.

Simon Upfill-Brown, who recently joined GreenFuel as CEO from Haltermann and Dow Chemical, said:

“Algae are a very promising solution to diminishing oil reserves, escalating oil and food prices and climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions.”

Rafael Naranjo, CEO and Chairman of the Aurantia Group, added:

“We believe algae hold great promise for Spain as they can be harvested daily, rather than seasonally, use water very efficiently and do not require arable land like other crops.”

More from the press release here.