December 28, 2011
BY Bryan Sims
Algae-to-biodiesel and commercial aquatic feed developer World Health Energy Holdings Inc. signed a letter of intent with Prime Inc. India to develop a proposed biodiesel production facility in India that would ramp up to 250 acres with a budget of up to $100 million.
The proposed sites for development are in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, India. According to WHEH, the company will utilize an algae enhancement technology, called the GB 3000 system, used for cultivating algae for the production of fish feed, proteins and algal oil for biodiesel production in the Territory of India.
“We look forward to working with Prime Inc. India in the design, development and support of a cost-efficient algae production farm,” said Liran Kosman, the chief financial officer of WHEH. “We anticipate scaling up operations and completing a number of significant algae projects in 2012.”
WHEH recently acquired GNE-India, the original developer of the GB 3000 technology, and now holds exclusive distribution and licensing rights to the technology in India and Croatia. GNE-India owns and retains the territorial rights for distribution and sales of the proprietary technology to both India and Sri Lanka. Earlier this year, the GB 3000 system successfully grew and harvested Spirulina, a type of blue-green algae, as well as Chlorella, targeting the fish feed and biodiesel markets.
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Biodiesel Magazine was unable to reach a WHEH representative for comment on what the annual production rate of biodiesel from algae might be, when the project would be complete or how much of algae would be harvested and used specifically for biodiesel production as part of the project with Prime Inc. India.
The company noted in a statement, however, that it is a public holding company that aims to develop joint venture partnerships for algae production—for both biodiesel and commercial fish food purposes. Videos posted on the company’s website indicate that the algae production technology is based on a photobioreactor design rather than a conventional open raceway pond configuration.
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