[Graeme]

PStarr, You admit yourself that you are not in the Bidness. Please let those who are solve their own problems. They are not foolish enough to make public announcements if they do not know what they are doing. I've already given the names of the companies involved. There are quite a lot of them.

[Graeme]

Did you check out team member Dr Ian J Miller?

http://www.google.co.nz/patents?hl=en&l ... &q&f=false

[Graeme]

Aquaflow plays its bargaining chips smartly

One of the more interesting aspects of Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation’s deal with CRI Catalyst Company of the USA, is having bargaining chips or cards in your hand.

Last September Marlborough-based Aquaflow announced a partnership of its wild-algae biofuel generating technology project with Texas’ CRI.

The wild algae has a dual ability to clean water and produce a ‘green crude’ (like black but without the millions of years of heat and pressure). CRI has a catalyst and process to convert this green crude into hydrocarbon fuels and blend stocks in typically a few hours.

CRI calls this proprietary technology Integrated Hydropyrolysis and Hydroconversion (IH2) – which can also convert biomass directly into renewable gasoline, jetfuel and diesel. CRI is also a subsidiary of Shell Oil (who recently sold its NZ downstream assets from refining to retail to Z Energy).

Whether or not Aquaflow’s promotion and use of wild algae (localised to the region) will be the route to market for what is plethora of global algae-to-oil projects, is still to be determined. (See here for a small list of such projects).

Aquaflow director Nick Gerritsen says using algae that naturally exist in an area is much more cost-effective and water-cleansing that attempting to create mono-cultures of algae specifically for its lipid oil production.

There’s also the question of whether a globally scalable algae focused solution will be deemed riskier if genetically modified species are used.

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