THE proponents of a $100 million algae production facility earmarked for a site near Karratha say they are confident the development will proceed this year.
Aurora Algae, which is backed by US venture capital funds, opened a demonstration facility at Karratha last year.
Founder and managing director Matthew Caspari said the company had achieved great results from the demonstration facility.
“We’ve got very aggressive short-term goals that are commercially focused,” Mr Caspari said.
Mr Caspari started the business in the US in 2006, having studied biochemistry and chemical engineering, and moved to Perth after selecting the Pilbara as the site for what will be the largest commercial scale photosynthetic algae facility in the world.
The company has appointed MWH and John Holland as its engineering and construction contractors, both of which are currently finalising their plans.
“When we started the company there were so many things that kept us awake at night,” Mr Caspari said.
“We’re feeling good now; it’s really a case of managing the execution risk.”
He said while the concept of harnessing algae as a commercial crop was not new, many other researchers in the field had been too academic, whereas Aurora had always been commercially focused.
Mr Caspari said Aurora also benefited from a holistic approach, focusing on every step in the process from growing, harvesting, processing, and marketing, all on a large scale.
The company’s business strategy is focused on three markets.
First is biodiesel, which Aurora plans to sell to mining companies in the Pilbara.
Second is production of omega 3 fatty acids, which can be used in the global food and drug industries.
The third product will be a protein-rich biomass, which can be used as a feedstock in the aquaculture and livestock industries.
“There is lots of interest in Asia from aquaculture operations,” Mr Caspari said.
Aurora currently sends its dried algae powder to the US for processing, but in future it would have the capacity to process the algae on site.
One of the selling points of the Aurora facility is that it will be able to use carbon dioxide emitted by some of the existing industrial plants near Karratha, such as the North West Shelf venture’s gas plant and Burrup Fertilisers’ urea plant.
Aurora is planning to build a 100-hectare facility, but could expand it to as much as 2,000ha.
