Race to convert algae into oil energy

_ By Bernie Woodall in Los Angeles _

The algae to energy technology involves a shaft in the middle of the bioreactor which will rotate to allow low-energy lights to speed the growth of algae in layers around-the-clock. The oil is then extracted from the organism’s cell walls using a chemical-free microwave process. The technology is modular, scalable and portable


Nicholas Eckelberry, co-founder and inventor
of OriginOil, seen next to a demonstration
Helix BioReactor model that will facilitate
algae growth with lab operations manager
Nathan Morrison (background) at the company’s
 laboratory in Los Angeles. — Reuters

 ONE could say they are working on the green slime that could change the world. In an unassuming converted warehouse in Los Angeles, the 10 employees of OriginOil are working to perfect the way microscopic algae is grown and refined. They hope that within a few years the methods they use to make small batches of greenish-coloured algae mixtures in the laboratory will be imitated in 2,500-gallon (9,460 litre) tanks around the world. And that the oil extracted from the algae will in many cases replace petroleum.

OriginOil is in a race with hundreds of other companies to find an affordable way to convert algae to energy. Algae promises to use less land, water and other resources than other biofuels, such as corn. The company is led by co-founders and brothers Riggs Eckelberry, CEO and president, and inventor Nicholas Eckelberry. Recently hired Vikram Pattarkine is chief technology officer.

OriginOil was founded in June 2007 and came up with its key invention, a bioreactor that speeds algae growth and acts more like a brewery than an algae farm, in February 2008. It plans to roll out working models built by partners beginning in 2010. Among the hundreds of companies seeking algae energy, “less than a dozen stand out”, said Riggs Eckelberry, and he includes his own among the elite few.


“We are more of a collaborator than a competitor,” he said, explaining a major reason why he felt the company stood out. OriginOil, he says, wants to provide the method, the technology of algae growth and leave the manufacture of machines and devices to others. In OriginOil’s plan, it would link with licensed partners around the world where its style of algae bioreactors would be deployed.

Barriers
“We think of ourselves as the operating system of the algae industry,” Riggs Eckelberry said. “Once all the technology barriers to make algae are overcome, and that goes hand-in-hand with resolving the price barriers, everybody is going to make algae. It won’t be five producers. It will be 100,000 producers around the world,” he said.

He said costs of the technology were still being studied, along with oil yield but that yields compared favourably with large-scale algae refineries in Japan, although OriginOil’s results were from small tanks in the laboratory. OriginOil’s technology involves a Helix BioReactor. A shaft in the middle of the bioreactor, which will be built to scale depending on the size of the tank, rotates to allow low-energy lights to speed the growth of algae in layers around-the-clock.
 

The same system feeds the algae nutrients and carbon dioxide it needs. The oil is then extracted from the organism’s cell walls using a chemical-free microwave process. The technology is modular, scalable and portable, Riggs Eckelberry said. In an algae pond, growth occurs only near the top that is exposed to sunlight. Algae is also prone to being eaten or damaged by infection or chemicals in the pond.

Nicholas Eckelberry said the system he and Pattarkine work with limits those types of problems to a single tank, without impacting a tank stacked right on it. Technology being developed by some other firms involves growing algae in a series of large plastic bags. Privately held Sapphire Energy of San Diego has made a form of gasoline from algae and is lobbying the incoming Obama Administration to fund algae research.

Sapphire has been funded by $100 million in venture capital from Bill Gates, Arch Venture Partners and others. Nine algae-to-energy companies were on a list of the “50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy” compiled by Biofuels Digest and issued earlier this month. Sapphire was listed number 2, while OriginOil was at number 45.

Riggs Eckelberry said he was surprised his company was even on the list. “We are still very much in the research and development stage,” he said. OriginOil ended trade on Tuesday at 38 cents per share, against a year-high of 51 cents and a low of 18 cents.


Eckelberry stands next to
 two test batches of nannoc
hloropsis algae. — Reuters


Riggs Eckelberry says the company was adequately funded and would begin reporting revenues by 2010 but won’t be profitable for a few years. “Our investors want us to build out our technology first and not rush it,” he said. — Reuters

Signs of the Times: boo the
 bankers, lose the spouse

Your assets are hurting? It may be a good time to lose that wife or husband.
In China, fears of a prolonged recession have triggered a sharp increase in
divorce inquiries to lawyers and financial advisers, state media report


A sign hangs in a window at Fishs Eddy store in New
York. The global recession manifests itself in big and
small ways, most gloomy, some quirky and often
reflecting the inventive human spirit. — Reuters


A diver in kimono swims with an eel next to a traditional decoration during a rehearsal for the New Year’s attraction at Sunshine International Aquarium in Tokyo yesterday. The fish-feeding performance will be held from tomorrow to January 7. — Reuters

 

Workers uncoil wire during a test of the New Years Eve Ball. (Right): Volunteers inflated tens of thousands
of balloons for Times Square revellers yesterday in New York City. This year’s ball is twelve feet in diameter,
twice that of last years. Thousands of people are expected to fill Times Square for the annual event. — AFP

THE global recession manifests itself in big ways and small: most gloomy, some quirky and many reflecting the inventive human spirit. Here is a look at some signs of the times.

u Forget layoffs or holdups, just being identified as bank employees can be risky these days. At a recent performance of the pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk at the Cambridge Arts Theatre in England, the cast reading a list of ‘hellos’ to the audience welcomed a party from a bank. Then they joined the audience in booing.

u The drums are silent and the only footfalls at Manhattan’s Djoniba Dance & Drum Centre this week are the sounds of movers packing up. The 15-year-old African dance group closed its doors after a rent hike and falling enrolment as the economy soured, owner Djoniba Mouflet said on Tuesday.

The centre is still hoping to reopen. It took a cue from Barack Obama’s successful White House campaign with a website plea to raise money through small donations: “Take action! e-mail and tell your friends, the impact Djoniba Centre had on you and the community. Invite them to make a tax-deductible donation of $2. Imagine if 50,000 people donated $2...! YES, WE CAN!”

u Your assets are hurting? It may be a good time to lose that wife or husband. In China, fears of a prolonged recession have triggered a sharp increase in divorce inquiries to lawyers and financial advisers, state media report. Wealthy spouses were keen to strike a deal while asset values were low, Shu Xin of the China Divorce Service Centre told the China Daily.

u Even before Santa let them down, US retailers were taking another hit amid the recession —from shoplifters. The Retail Industry Leaders Association says its survey of 52 of the largest and fastest growing American retailers shows that crime went up as the economy tanked. The group said in December that 84 per cent of retailers surveyed reported an increase in theft and amateur shoplifting and 76 per cent reported an increase in financial fraud.

u Low-cost Irish airline Ryanair is not waiting for the markets to deliver their verdict on the British pound. On a Christmas Eve flight from Nimes, France, to London, the airline devalued the currency to parity with the euro. A cheerful voice came over the public address system just after passengers had settled in their seats, urging them to ignore the sterling prices on the menu for drinks and snacks, and just use the euro price when paying in pounds. Merry Christmas, Britain!

u To stimulate flagging apparel sales in the last five days of 2008, Japan’s Ito-Yokado retail chain said it will pay 1,000 yen ($11) in exchange for an old coat, suit or handbag or shoes brought by shoppers who buy 5,000 yen ($55) in clothes.

u Fishs Eddy, a New York houseware chain, made a starker appeal to end-of-the-year bargain hunters at its Broadway outlet. A red sign adorned its plate-glass facade with large white lettering: “ECONOMY SUCKS SALE! Up to 75 per cent off.

u With the American Pet Products Association predicting at least half of dog and cat owners, 20 million people, would buy holiday gifts for their pets, The Washington Post last week ran a feature on some high-tech treats: an electronic mouse ($59.49-$69.99), an automatic self-cleaning litter box ($329)and a treadmill for dogs ($489.99 to $2,995) The article ended with a wink at the economic patriotism some advertisers have tried to drum up: “Overpriced? Probably. Unnecessary? Entirely. A gift for not only yourself and your dog, but the entire US economy? Absolutely.” — Reuters

Grape seed extract compels
leukaemia cells to suicide

GRAPE seed extract compels leukaemia cells to commit suicide. University of Kentucky (U-K) researchers found that within 24 hours, 76 per cent of leukaemia cells had died after exposure to the extract. The investigators also teased apart the cell signalling pathway associated with use of grape seed extract that led to cell death, or apoptosis.

They found that the extract activates JNK, a protein that regulates the apoptotic pathway. While grape seed extract has shown activity in a number of lab cancer cell lines, including skin, breast, colon, lung, stomach and prostate cancers, no one had tested the extract in haematological cancers nor had the precise mechanism for activity been revealed.

“These results could have implications for the incorporation of agents such as grape seed extract into prevention or treatment of haematological (blood related) malignancies and possibly other cancers,” said the study co-author, Xianglin Shi, professor in the Graduate Centre for Toxicology at the UK.


Researchers found that within 24 hours, 76 per
cent of leukaemia cells had died after exposure
 to the grape seed extract


“What everyone seeks is an agent that has an effect on cancer cells but leaves normal cells alone, and this shows that grape seed extract fits into this category,” he said. Shi adds, however, that the research is not far enough along to suggest that people should eat grapes, grape seeds, or grape skin in excess to stave off cancer. “This is very promising research, but it is too early to say this is chemo-protective.”

Haematological cancers — leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma — accounted for an estimated 118,310 new cancer cases and almost 54,000 deaths in 2006, ranking these cancers as the fourth leading cause of cancer incidence and death in the US, said a U-K release. Researchers also discovered that the extract does not affect normal cells, although they don’t know why. These findings are scheduled for publication in today’s issue of Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. — IANS

Nine-year-old solves tough maths in seconds

_ By V N Balakrishna Anand in Gujarat  _

ASK her to do complicated additions, subtractions or multiplications and the answer springs to nine-year-old Payal Merja’s lips almost instantly. She is the girl who won an all-Gujarat arithmetic contest this month. It is an arresting experience to see Payal, her eyes blinking, her fingers tapping, as she uncovers solutions at lightning speed. She studies in Class 5 at Bavis Gam Vidyalaya, Vallabh Vidyanagar, three kilometres from here. “When my brother Joy secured 99 per cent marks in maths in Class 12, I too felt I can do better,” Payal said.

Ramesh Merja, her father and deputy collector of Kheda district, said: “Payal has been a prodigy from the beginning. In Class 1 and 2, she scored 100 per cent while in Class 3 and 4, she scored 99 per cent.” In the All Gujarat Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Contest-2008, held in Vadodara on December 14, more than 4,500 students took part. But it was Payal who bagged the Champions Trophy.

“For her success I feel credit should go to Vedic maths and the abacus. Payal was very fond of the abacus and she did a lot of maths on it when she was younger,” Ramesh Merja said. Payal made her tryst with Vedic maths two years ago. And with perseverance, hard work and determination she has cultivated both the right and left parts of her brain to work simultaneously, her father said.

She recently solved 200 sums in just eight minutes and still she had 50 seconds to spare when she had finished the exam papers. All the sums were solved correctly, he said. Not for nothing is she hailed as another Shakuntala Devi in the making, after the woman who never ceased to amaze with her calculating speed.

“It is her concentration that is key to her success. She believes she can do it. It is the ease with which she accepts a challenge that helps her scale new highs,” Ramesh Merja said. But maths is not the only thing she does. “My daughter learns bharatanatyam. She loves skating, music and drawing. In leisure, she reads the autobiographies of great world leaders.” Both the parents have ensured that the girl’s mathematical talent does not go waste.

“I and my wife Rekhaben have been careful about her grooming,” said Ramesh Merja. “No doubt she is gifted by birth. But after I admitted her to a Universal Concept of Mental Arithmetic System (UCMAS) school six months ago, there was a dramatic improvement.” In the All India UCMAS competitions, Payal holds the distinction of being runners up. I was very good in mathematics from the beginning and the USMAS helped me do still better,” said Payal.

Her proud father added: “The UCMAS training has indeed sharpened her even as she has a natural inclination for science and maths.” Rekhaben said: “Talent is god’s gift. All children are blessed equally. But what is required is its application and positive attitude which differs from person to person.”

“To lead a creative life we must abandon the fear of going wrong. Failure is part of life and should not be seen as a deterrent. Of course, coupled with good moral values, any child can do better.” Acquaintances also swear by her skills. “She is very intelligent and is thorough in whatever she does,” said her neighbour Aravindra Suthar. — IANS

Cat Island fights not to go to dogs

_ By Miwa Suzuki in Japan _


Kazuko Hatakeyama feeds some 20 cats at her reside
nce at Tashiro island. (Right): A cat sits next to the pier
 of the fishing port of Tashiro island. — AFP
THE elderly residents of a small Japanese island swarming with cats are hoping that their trademark animals will attract something they’ve been missing for years — people. The fishing village of Tashiro, known as Cat Island, has shunned dogs for centuries in the belief that cats invite a big catch.

The island’s 100 residents, most of whom are aged well over 70, are hoping that cats will become a drawcard in a campaign to attract tourists and, hopefully, people who want to settle down here. “You may think this place is so peaceful. But if there’s a fire, there is nobody who can help put it out,” said Yutaka Hama, 49, who leads the Tashiro tourism promotion group.

“I want young people to come. There are folks here who would teach them fishing,” said Hama, who moved to Tashiro a few years ago and is now an inn operator and fisherman. Hama’s wife, Aiko, is by far the youngest woman here at age 37, with the second youngest woman in her 60s. Besides dogs, there are lots of common sights in modern Japan that are absent from this island, from all-night convenience stores to traffic signals and children.

The human population has fallen ten-fold since 1960 as many moved to cities. But a couple of years ago, Tashiro became famous as Cat Island when a television network introduced one of the moggies — Jack the Lop Ear, a shabby white-and-black tom with a drooping left ear — to the nation. Jack is now a celebrity in the town, with his slowness compared with other cats only adding to his popularity. “I’m so happy to see Jack,” said Shiho Amano, an 18-year-old cat lover who came from the central city of Nagoya to see a photo exhibition arranged by residents promoting tourism here.

They don’t wipe their feet
“I want to live here after I retire,” the student said, showing the screen of her cellphone which had snapshots of the cat. Jack is not the first cat to become a national idol in Japan, nor to help revive the fortunes of an area aching for life. Tama, a tortoiseshell stray, was last year named “master” of Kinokawa railway station in western Wakayama prefecture and given an official cap to go with the job. Her presence has led to a tourist, and financial, boom for the small city.

In the face of the apparent success of the campaign to use the cats to draw visitors, Tashiro’s cat opponents have conceded defeat. “I must say I appreciate them as they bring people here,” said Mitsue Tsuda, a 65-year-old avowed cat hater, who complains of cats sneaking into her house. “They don’t wipe their feet even when it’s raining,” she said while admitting that the cats do look cute in the exhibited pictures.

Tashiro fishermen traditionally give part of their catch to cats, which are spotted everywhere on this 3.14-square-kilometre island 20 kilometres off the port city of Ishinomaki in northern Japan. Kazuko Hatakeyama, 69, does not fish but some 20 cats “commute” each day to her house, a result of her twice-a-day feeding for decades.

“Since they come to my place and plead for food so much, I don’t have any other choice. Whenever I go out, they follow me,” she said as she fed the cats raising their paws and mewing loudly towards her. The ferry between the island the mainland used to have only 10-20 passengers a day on its three daily trips after the summer season. But by September this year that number had roughly doubled year on weekdays and more than tripled on weekends. “We see more people carrying cameras and food rather than fishing rods,” said an official of the Ajishima Line ferry, adding that tourists were still coming despite the winter weather. — AFP

Flowering plants speed post-surgery recovery

CONTACT with greenery is known to rejuvenate the mind and induce positive feelings, reduce stress, and provide distraction from pain associated with recovery from surgery. Now, research has confirmed the beneficial effects of plants and flowers for patients recovering from abdominal surgery.

A recent study by Seong-Hyun Park and Richard H Mattson, researchers from the Department of Horticulture, Recreation and Forestry at Kansas State University, provides strong evidence that contact with plants is directly beneficial to a hospital patient’s health. Using various equipment, the study set out to evaluate if plants in hospital rooms have therapeutic influences.

Studies show that when patients are highly stressed over surgery, they typically experience more severe pain and a slower recovery period. Some of these problems are treated through the use of anaesthetics and analgesics, but, if not properly administered, the drugs can have side effects ranging from vomiting and headaches to drug dependency or even fatality.

It is therefore beneficial to patients and care providers to develop approaches that improve the overall patient experience without relying on pharmaceuticals. The study was conducted on 90 patients recovering from an appendectomy. They were randomly assigned to hospital rooms with or without plants during their postoperative recovery periods, said a university release. The study was published in HortTechnology.

Patients with plants in their rooms had significantly fewer intakes of pain medication, more positive physiological responses (lower blood pressure and heart rate), less pain, anxiety and fatigue, and better overall positive and higher satisfaction with their recovery rooms than their counterparts in the control group without plants in their rooms.

An interesting note to this study — the majority of patients who had plants in their rooms reported that the plants were the most positive qualities of their rooms (93 per cent), whereas patients without plants in their rooms said that watching television was the most favourable aspect of their rooms (91 per cent). — IANS