The Harvester works to separate out algae from algae laden waste water in municipal ponds, natural waterways, effluent ponds and industrial waste streams. Algae harvesting uses a combination of mechanical processes and other agents that work together to concentrate the algae from the very low densities present in water into an algal slurry. The slurry then goes through a dewatering process to produce a concentrated algae paste.

The algae Harvester achieves 70 – 90% recovery of suspended algae biomass material on a continuous basis and our current harvesting unit is capable of processing 35 cubic meters of algae laden water per hour. The harvesting operation is largely automated, requiring minimal staff to oversee multiple harvesters. Each harvester is built inside a 40 foot container, with readily available components that require a low power supply for operation. This allows the harvesters to be easily transported and, if required, taken to remote locations. Multiple container based units can be deployed depending on the remediation volume requirements, this makes our harvesting programmes highly scalable.

The algal slurry produced by our harvesting and dewatering process requires further processing before valuable by products can be derived. We call the result of this conversion process called Green Crude™, a derivative that exhibits similar characteristics to crude oil.

The converter technology works using catalysts, heat and temperature to break down the algae biomass and separate and purify the different chemical categories. These processes act to replicate nature’s natural effects but in an accelerated fashion. Green Crude™ can then be further refined into various valuable derivatives including bio fuels and fine chemicals.

The refining of Green Crude™ continues to be developed in our Nelson laboratory as well as with our partners at UOP. Aquaflow’s chemistry development programme runs in parallel with the process and plant development and as a result, we have a very deep understanding of the chemicals present in the Green Crude™ and their potential applications.

We are working on the refinery of kerosene, diesel and petroleum fractions from Green Crude™ and have produced these fractions in principle at our labs. In addition, other specialty bio-derived chemical fractions can be produced including those used for specialty industry solvents, pre-cursors for polymer manufacture, surfactants (detergents) and pharmaceutical components.