Dear Friends,
Welcome to our new website. It is here where we shall communicate with you about our developments, technology and values.
Algae hold great promise because they grow very rapidly, are rich in vegetable oil and can be cultivated in ponds of seawater, minimising the use of fertile land and fresh water. Algae can double their mass several times a day and produce at least 15 times more oil per hectare than alternatives such as rape, palm soya or jatropha. Moreover, facilities can be built on coastal land unsuitable for conventional agriculture. Over the long term, algae cultivation facilities also have the potential to absorb or ‘capture’ waste CO2 directly from industrial facilities such as power plants. Cellana's Kona Demonstration Facility will use bottled CO2 to explore this potential.
Construction of the Kona Demonstration Facility on the Big Island of Hawaii has begun on 16 January. The site, leased from the Natural
Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA), is near existing
commercial algae enterprises, primarily serving the pharmaceutical and
nutrition industries.
The facility will grow only
non-modified, marine microalgae species in open-air ponds using
proprietary technology. Algae strains used will be indigenous to
Hawaii or approved by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture. Protection
of the local environment and marine ecosystem has been central to
facility design. Once the algae are harvested, the vegetable oil will
be extracted. The facility’s small production volumes will be used for
testing.
An academic research programme will support the
project, screening natural microalgae species to determine which ones
produce the highest yields and the most vegetable oil. The program
will include scientists from the Universities of Hawaii, Southern
Mississippi and Dalhousie, in Nova Scotia, Canada.
I firmly believe in the fundamental importance of trust, openness, teamwork and professionalism, and pride in what we do. I commit to lead Cellana in line with our business principles and values, of which those around Health, Safety, Security and The Environment I hold especially dear.
Gabriel F. de Scheemaker
CEO, Cellana B.V.