US Bio Architecture Lab, Chinese Xunshan to develop seaweed biorefinery

Oct 30, 2012 - US biotechnology firm Bio Architecture Lab (BAL) today said it had teamed up with Chinese brown seaweed growing aquaculture firm Xunshan Group to develop an integrated brown seaweed biorefinery for fuels and chemicals.

The partners will utilise Xunshan's seaweed together with BAL's conversion technology to produce low-cost carbohydrate for production of fuels, chemicals, animal feed and other co-products. The two companies are carrying out feasibility studies at sites selected for the biorefinery and a seaweed farm along the coast of China's Shangdong province.

The partnership will help BAL in the commercialisation of its technology, its chairman and CEO Daniel Trunfio said. The two companies would develop international markets for production of renewable fuels, chemicals an other products using carbohydrate from brown seaweed, he added.

"Bio Architecture Lab's technology opens new markets for seaweed production, and will help enable Xunshan to increase our production and expand our business globally", said Li Changqing, chairman of Xunshan Group, which specialises in the extraction of bio-products and seaweed fertilizers from seaweed.

BAL is concentrated on enabling the production of low-cost sugars from seaweed for biofuels and renewable chemicals.

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