Nick Hazell, the engineer and serial entrepreneur who turned v2food into a major force in plant-based meat, is back with a new plant-based idea to grow algae as a replacement for fossil fuels and plastics.
His latest venture, Algenie, has raised $1.1 million in pre-seed funding from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Better Bite Ventures, and other strategic investors.
The biotech startup has ambitious plans to ride the wave of renewable energy in Australia to produce algae affordably at scale to cut carbon emissions and produce the building blocks for sustainable plastics and fuels.
Hazell is looking to build a modular system that will see Algenie grow and harvest 100 tonnes of algae annually from a space the size of a shipping container, which is enough to produce 2.5 million sustainable plastic bottles.
Algae is a microscopic aquatic plants that use photosynthesis to produce energy, absorbing CO2 to grow. It already captures more carbon than anything else on Earth, and while it’s sometimes harmful – algal blooms can turn toxic and cause health problems and kill fish – Hazell believes it has the potential to be the ultimate climate tech weapon.
Algenie has developed a novel, helix-shaped photobioreactor that dramatically improves efficiency and scalability, with the potential to cut production costs tenfold to $1 a kilogram.
The design enables some algae species to double in quantity every 2-3 hours under ideal conditions.
The startup is collaborating with UTS as its research partner, leveraging the university’s researchers and the biological resources and automation equipment within the Climate Change Cluster (C3) to rapidly develop and optimise algae strains.
“Algae offers immense potential to address climate change and transform multiple industries, but until now, scalable and economical production has remained elusive,” Hazell said.
“Our helix design and technology is a true breakthrough, paving the way for algae-based solutions to become economically competitive with and ultimately replace traditional fossil fuel-based products.”
Production under the Algenie model has the ability to respond to renewable energy production fluctuations, taking advantage of plentiful and cheap power and also slow things down when it’s not as available and affordable.
The global potential for algae ranges from biofuels to sustainable plastics, textiles, and fish aquaculture. The company plans to license its technology and collaborate with partners to co-invest in large-scale production infrastructure.
Better Bite Ventures founding partner Simon Newstead said Algenie has the potential to sequester carbon at gigaton scales.
“We got to know Nick through the APAC food tech ecosystem and believe his visionary leadership and deep technical expertise are perfect for this grand challenge – one that can unlock a range of climate-friendly applications from food to fuels and plastics,” he said.
UTS Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research Professor Chris Turney said Algenie’s approach to algae cultivation is taking forward research by UTS professors Peter Ralph and Long Nghiem to develop an optimised system for carbon absorption
“By combining our biotech know-how with Algenie’s production technology, together we’re accelerating the development of an algae tech platform that could play a crucial role in mitigating climate change and creating sustainable products for a sustainable future,” he said.
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