Algae technology company OriginOil, Inc. will participate in a pilot-scale algae project to be funded by the Mexican government to demonstrate industrial algae production, paving the way for substantial investment by the Mexican government in large-scale jet fuels production.
The project operator, Genesis Ventures of Ensenada, Baja California, has received a first Economy Ministry grant through The National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT) for its first site. Genesis will develop the site as a model for numerous additional projects to be co-located with large CO2 sources.
Ensenada’s Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education (CICESE) will operate the Genesis site. The facility offers a team of researchers, laboratory equipment, and bench-scale algae cultivation infrastructure. Genesis will also invite University of Baja California (UABC) algae researchers to collaborate in the project.
We intend to rely heavily on OriginOil’s expertise in feeding and sanitizing algae cultures, and its core harvesting and extraction technology. Through our partner Jose Sanchez, we have a uniquely close association with OriginOil which will enable us to scale up production quickly.
— Eduardo Durazo Watanabe, President of Genesis Ventures
Sanchez is OriginOil’s vice president of growth and production. He recently helped increase algae production at a research site operated by Australia’s MBD Energy Limited, OriginOil’s first pilot partner.
Before joining OriginOil, Sanchez was General Manager of Aurora Mexico, a then-subsidiary of San Francisco-based Aurora Algae, where he launched Aurora’s Mexico-based field operations, built and opened its R&D facilities, managed initial scale-up endeavors, provided information to decision makers to aid in site selection, and carried out negotiations on land acquisition, water rights and CO2 procurement. Sanchez also introduced landmark Mexican legislation to address the environmental, water management and land use aspects of algae production systems. He has continued to work with Mexican stakeholders to develop that country’s strategic algae infrastructure.