OriginOil's algae harvesting process may be used at Japanese 100 sites

Aug 30, 2012 - US OriginOil Inc (OTC:OOIL) said today its partner Takaaki Maekawa, head of Japan’s Research Institute of Tsukuba Bio-tech, had secured government funds that might result in the deployment of OriginOil’s algae-to-biofuel process at over 100 sites.

The initial grant is for two sites of more than an acre, where OriginOil’s algae harvesting technology will be used to both eliminate radioactive contaminants and produce biofuels. The two initial algae-to-biofuel facilities will be installed close to the Narita International Airport, near Tokyo, and in Fukushima where the nuclear crisis in Japan began following the March 2011 earthquake.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries grant to Maekawa is in line with Japan’s efforts to eliminate radioactive materials from contaminated lands following the Fukushima accident. If the OriginOil process proves successful in toxic remediation along with biofuel production, over 100 more sites like these at Narita airport and Fukushima can be developed, according to the company's press release.

OriginOil said that a recent test conducted by the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN) had shown that a strain of microalgae can remove nearly 90% of all radioactive material in cesium-contaminated water.

The US company in 2009 entered into a memorandum of understanding with Maekawa’s company to develop and distribute algae systems in Japan.

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