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promotion Alltech envisions bright future for algae fermentation Alltech recently began operations at its re-designed algae fermentation facility in Winchester, Kentucky. The facility, which will produce value-added feed products derived from algae as well as algae-derived biofuel, is seen by Alltech as a tremendous opportunity to move forward in the development of algae fermentation. This is expected to be a crucial component of tomorrow’s agriculture. Dr Pearse Lyons, founder and president of Alltech, recently claimed that Alltech’s advances in algae technology would provide the world with incredible opportunities in the areas of food, feed and fuel. “We have already been working in this area for several years and see it playing a major role in both human and animal health and nutrition. I am confident that this will be one of the key pieces that will help our company pass the USD one billion revenue threshold in 2014,” he stated. In addition to the scaling up of the Winchester plant, Alltech has continued 20 its efforts to use its educational knowhow to inform customers and other industry players of the potential that algae technology has to offer the world. Upon his return from a bio-energy event in the Asia Pacific region, Dr Mark Lyons, son of founder Dr Pearse Lyons and International project director of Alltech, spoke about algae’s untapped potential and shared some interesting new data and facts as well as some company perspectives on its future in the world of algae. Firstly, Dr Lyons believes that the opportunity to acquire the Winchester plant and establish “Alltech Algae” was a tremendous boost for the company. Providing an update on the facility, he said: “We are now successfully running commercial fermentations at the facility in Winchester and are already moving to commercialisation of products that we had developed on a pilot scale over the past number of years.” “Today, we have one of the largest algae plants in the world up and running and that is very valuable in terms of our ability to market products. At the Winchester plant we also have one of the best pilot plants we Dr Mark Lyons have ever owned that scales perfectly to the production systems. This speeds up development greatly,” added Dr Lyons Alltech also argues that its Winchester algae fermentation facility can be considered as a “farm of the future” – a concept gaining in popularity, not only due to its highly innovative nature, but also due to the forward thinking and beyond traditional boundary approach needed, qualities that also inspire Alltech. He further said: “Algae is a key component of the farm of the future. The broad range of algae species means that we can create products that carry specific traits and properties that will be most interesting to our customers and that could be the key link between the various processes that will be operating in the farm of the future.” “Algae production certainly is a great example of thinking differently. While there has been some work carried out with algae, we believe that we are unique in our approach. We are looking to this production system as a way to feed and fuel the world with value-added productions that fit into our ACE principal of improving the health, welfare, and performance of Porcus April/Mei 2011
the animal, satisfying the consumer, and improving the environment,” he added. Alltech’s International project director also argues that the time is right to consider algae as a potent alternative source of energy. Dr Lyons explained that corn prices will likely remain high and supply tight. Other commodities’ attractiveness is also causing a war on acreage that will continue to maintain high prices. Cotton, for example, is a concern in the US and high sugar prices are a principal driver in South America. He also pointed out that right now in the US, wheat will be fed in traditional corn diets from July. However, its planting is behind schedule, so the end of price volatility is not near. However, according to Alltech’s estimates, one acre of chlorella algae could produce as much protein as 21 acres of soybeans; 49 acres of corn; 95 acres of wheat; or 994 acres of barley. With this data in mind algae would represent a promising alternative. He also highlighted the fact that 15 000 sq miles (about the size of the the Mojave desert, in Southern California) would provide enough algae to supply all of the transportation fuel needed in the US and biomass to feed 100 000 cows. “While that is a sizable amount of land, it is far less than is required to produce maize, soybeans, wheat, and other crops used today as feedstuffs. Algae is far more efficient in respect to the area required for production,” he said. It is also expected that the ongoing pressure on fuel supplies could force the development of fuels from algal biomass. It is understood that growth rates of algae can be as much as 30 times faster than terrestrial plants, therefore harvest rates can be as short as 1 to 10 days. Consequently this would allow for 300 times more oil per acre. “Just as food will be produced from a wide variety of food systems, energy and fuel must also have diversity in production. Dependency on one principal source of energy is not only dangerous, it is inherently unstable. We must broaden our approach to incorporate all of the costs of energy use, not simply what we pay at the pump. I believe the stage has been set by corn to ethanol and sugar cane to ethanol production for other systems to follow suit. We should not be looking at corn to ethanol as being a failed system but as being a stepping stone to future production systems, including algae,” commented Dr Lyons. When asked what would kick start the development of algae-derived biofuel, Dr Lyons said that there will likely be a need for proactive incentives from governments to really help entire industries move. “Incentives to use ethanol worked very effectively with blenders of gasoline and petrol, so if these were transferred over time to algae, it can be assumed that the same thing would happen. I believe the promotion marketing edge will help support producers to start up, and incentives for users will speed up this process considerably. Keep in mind that ethanol is presently used in the United States and Brazil at levels that are higher than mandated and expected rates. So while it may not be popular, the incentives that were put in place have had their desired impact,” he said. Alltech’s main area of focus at its Winchester facility is value-added feed. However, biodiesel certainly remains an area of interest. Dr Lyons said that in all likelihood Alltech would work with a partner in this specific area. Still, the company’s research, which started five years ago with its Biorefinery project, continues to bear fruit. Despite its potential, the amount of algae produced today is fairly insignificant for the feed and food markets. Most production is narrowly focused on specific attributes and extracted products such as certain oils and fats. However, Alltech aims to change the picture, not only by catering for the increase in demand for algae-derived products, but also by further pushing forward its educational and marketing initiatives to promote their value. Dr Lyons said: “The Alltech Algae facility in Winchester is so important to us simply because we can produce the volumes of product required to really move people in this direction. We now have 31 production facilities around the world and we will be able to expand, as we have in the past, to meet our customers’ requirements.” In the meantime, he stressed the fact that Alltech will continue to improve the efficiency of its production and the widespread applicability of its products derived from algal fermentation. “In fact, during our visit to Asia we were able to visit our new production facility in China and speak to groups about algae production in the region. As the market grows we will be there to meet it,” he commented. Moreover, the company held the First Annual International Algae Conference in February, which enjoyed a great reception and generated very valuable discussions. The follow-up from this event has helped Alltech to get the word out to a much broader audience. “From the interest generated in our discussions on the area of algae and from the general media interest in the topic, I believe that we will see more projects and scientific interest in the near future,” he said. Porcus April/May 2011 21
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