Brief Description

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The SRS algae oil extraction process employs heat and chemical conditioning of algae cells followed by a proprietary physical extraction process to unlock difficult to reach membrane bound lipids - without the need for totally destroying the cells - and produces extraordinary lipid yields and conditioned co-products. The process uses mild processing conditions to minimize energy use and a single non-polar solvent in combination with pond water (as a polar solvent) to isolate and extract algal cell constituents. Minimum quantities of conditioning agents and solvents are used as these are recycled back by traditional recovery methods.

In the SRS process, harvested algae biomass in water is pretreated with conditioning chemicals at precise pH, temperature and residence times followed by non-polar solvent addition and proprietary extracting techniques. This conditioning step hydrates and chemically solubilizes the algae cell to enable non polar solvent to remove lipids. The extracted algal mass is then phase separated and lipids are recovered from the non-polar solvent by distillation. Value added products are derived from processed biomass while solvent, water and conditioning chemicals are recycled. The oil is further processed for fuel production.

The SRS fractionation process has been in development for over 2 years. Relationships were developed with emerging algae companies and processed within the bench and pilot scale operations. A patent application was filed with the USPTO in March of 2009.