OriginOil, Inc. is a company developing a technology to turn algae, a renewable source of oil, into an alternative to petroleum. Their technology is expected to produce “new oil” from algae through an efficient, high-speed manufacturing process. The company’s patent-pending OriginOil System is an advanced bioreactor system. With it, they will extract algae oil for fuel and chemical production.
Founded in June of last year, OriginOil has their headquarters in Los Angeles, California. The company’s goal is to provide this alternative oil product for use in many configurations, such as diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, plastics, and solvents without the global warming effects of petroleum. The company’s OriginOil System uses quantum fracturing technology, and the OriginOil System functions as a continuous oil-producing industrial process. The company’s system works as such: Algae growth occurs in a bioreactor, in which chemical or biological reactions take place. A network of bioreactors serves the OriginOil System, depending on the scale required. In extraction, the quantum fracturing unit fractures a solution of proprietary catalysts injected into the extraction tank. It then creates an ultrasonic effect that cracks the algae cell wall open and releases the oil.
In June, OriginOil Inc. announced their adoption of a continuous batch production process they have named OriginOil Cascading Production™. Algae can expand rapidly if given the space. When fully mature, it stabilizes and grows very little. If you expand the space by a factor of ten, then the algae population increases to occupy the new volume, often quickly. OriginOil’s Helix BioReactor™ growth vessel adds the efficiency needed to combine incubation and larger tanks in one. Once the algae matures, 90 percent of it is transferred for harvesting. The remaining 10 percent can then expand into the Helix BioReactor, and the process repeats itself.
On July 2, the company announced that it would present at the National Algae Association Business Plan Forum on July 17 in The Woodlands, Texas . The appearance of CEO Riggs Eckelberry will take place on the afternoon of July 17, and will represent OriginOil’s first public presentation of its technology and go-to-market planning. The company has filed a series of patent applications for its proprietary technology.
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