Blue Marble Energy

Seattle-based Blue Marble Energy was founded in 2005 by CEO Kelly Ogilvie and Chief Scientific Officer James Stephens to produce an eco-friendly biofuel from algae and other biomass. But in recent years, driven by the expense of production and the lack of a sustainable market, the company has altered its focus to manufacturing biochemicals and flavorings.

“Currently, most artificial flavorings come from petroleum,” says Ogilvie. “By switching to algae derivatives, we can create a carbon-neutral source that is more easily renewable.”

The company now produces carbon-neutral renewable chemicals from biomaterials by fermenting feedstock with their AGATE (Acid, Gas, and Ammonia Targeted Extraction) system. With the support of $1 million in financing from private equity by investor Rajiv Shah, a soft drink bottler and distributor based in Nairobi, Kenya, Blue Marble currently produces 1 ton of esters (chemicals used in plastics, food flavoring, fragrance and adhesives) per day from more than 10,000 pounds of pollution-fueled algae removed from Puget Sound.

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Fragrance company Sweet Anthem has partnered with Blue Marble Energy to create a carbon neutral fragrance line.

The Eos line comprises two fragrances; a feminine version with a floral tea-based scent and a masculine or unisex version characterized by citrus and cognac.

Seattle-based BME, a company that produces biochemicals that can act as drop-in replacements in any product which currently uses petrochemicals, used its carbon neutral bioesters in the production of the fragrance line.

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One of the world’s first carbon neutral fragrance lines was officially launched this week by Blue Marble Energy, in collaboration with local couture perfumery Sweet Anthem.

Named for the Greek goddess of the dawn, the EOS fragrance line contains only biochemical and organic materials. The line’s two unique scents feature a special selection of Blue Marble Energy’s carbon neutral bioester top notes, carefully blended with Sweet Anthem’s custom fragrance heart and low notes. The feminine version of EOS is a modern, bright, floral, tea-based scent, while the masculine/unisex version is characterized by citrus and cognac, with hints of powdery apricot.

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The Biofuels Holiday gift guide offers several bio-based options for the season: An elegant bio-based perfume from Blue Marble Energy, the eMicroFueler for home based ethanol, eco-friendly water bottles, books on making algae biodiesel at home. It’s a Wonderful Life even offers a bio-based scene.

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The modern world lives in the house that oil built. Everything around us comes from petroleum. Over 96% of all consumer products, from liquid fuels to plastics, paints, clothes and food are derived from petrochemicals or require oil for their production. Aware of this dependence, Seattle based Blue Marble Energy, set out to find a sustainable alternative.

Source: Green A.C.R.E. Radio

Blue Marble Energy Corp. announced today that the company and the Odessa Public Development Authority (OPDA) were recently awarded $2 million by Washington State’s Community Economic Revitalization Board (CERB) in a private/public partnership to construct the state’s first specialty biochemical biorefinery in Lincoln County, WA.

“This investment will significantly speed the development of our biorefinery and bring over 70 green jobs to Lincoln County,” said Blue Marble Energy CEO Kelly Ogilvie. “We are grateful to the Governor and the State for their commitment to sustainability and to creating new jobs in these challenging economic times.”

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Blue Marble Energy Corp and the Odessa Public Development Authority have been awarded $2 million from Washington’s Community Economic Revitalization Board to build the state’s first specialty biochemical biorefinery in Lincoln County, Wash.

Blue Marble, the Seattle producer of specialty biochemicals and renewable natural gas, says the $2 million will go to infrastructure and development of the industrial pilot project. Blue Marble will be a partner with Barr-Tech, LLC at the Eastern Washington county’s Barr Regional Bio-Industrial Park.

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…within a year the Barr Regional Bio-Industrial Park could be ingesting 75,000 tons of municipal, commercial and farm waste. The material will be converted into fertilizer, enough electricity to supply 1,000 homes, and substitutes for some of the chemical industry’s petroleum-based raw material. Nothing will be wasted.

[...]

Other waste that contains high-energy materials such as fats, food, even greasy pizza boxes, will go into the digester, which contains a “soup” laden with bacteria. As they consume the waste, the bacteria produce methane that will be burned in two one-megawatt generators, with a third to be added later. One megawatt can meet the electricity needs of 500 homes.

[...]

Chief Operating Officer Devin Elliot said the Seattle company can process some of the mixture into anhydrous ammonia and chemicals used in cosmetics, paints and plastics.

Blue Marble has another use for the digester.

Elliot said Blue Marble, although it has the word “Energy” in its name, will focus on making high-value organic compounds because they are more profitable than bio-fuels.

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Under a new partnership, Seattle-based Blue Marble Energy Corp. will produce its biochemicals using a supply of microalgae from algae producer Bionavitas, Redmond, Wash.

Thus far, Blue Marble has made biochemicals, specifically esters—a group of chemicals used in food, fragrances, plastics, resins and adhesives—using mainly the waste grain from a neighboring brewery, according to Danielle Hendrix, Blue Marble communications manager. The new partnership does not specify a fixed amount of algae, she said, and is an open research and development agreement. “We haven’t decided on a cap,” she said.

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Blue Marble Energy’s proprietary AGATE (Acid, Gas and Ammonia Targeted Extraction) system uses different bacterial consortia (“cassettes”) in an anaerobic fermentation process to produce a variety of biochemicals, including short-chain esters, amides and green anhydrous ammonia. It also generates renewable natural gas as a product.

Ogilvie says that while fuels production from algae may ultimately prove viable, right now the focus on higher-margin biochemicals provides a more sustainable economic base for the business. As an example, propyl-propionate, one of BME’s specialty chemicals, currently sells for some $816 per gallon.

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Two of America’s leading renewable biochemical companies, Blue Marble Energy Corp. and Bionavitas, announced a partnership today in which Blue Marble Energy will produce high-margin biochemicals from microalgae supplied by Bionavitas. Blue Marble CEO Kelly Ogilvie officially announced the partnership at the 3rd Annual Algal Biomass Summit in San Diego.

Bionavitas, based in Redmond, Washington, has developed Light Immersion Technology™ (LIT™) that enables the rapid, cost-effective production of algae for environmental remediation, manufacturing health and nutraceutical products, and producing biofuels. Blue Marble Energy, based in Seattle, has developed a proprietary technology to produce a wide array of high-margin, carbon neutral specialty biochemicals from organic biomass. These biochemicals include esters, a group of chemicals used in food, fragrance, plastics, resins and adhesives.

“There is no question that algae are a key component of the solution and will help reduce our dependence on fossil fuels,” said Ogilvie. “But fuel isn’t the only useful product that can be developed using algae. While many people think of oil simply as a source of fuel, it is also an important component of almost everything we eat, drink, manufacture, and wear. With the efficient algae-production capability of Bionavitas, and our ability to convert that algae into specialty biochemicals, it was a natural step for our companies to partner.”

“Our Light Immersion Technology gives us the ability to efficiently produce high quality algae that is uniquely suited for Blue Marble’s processing technology,” said Michael Weaver, CEO of Bionavitas. “We look forward to jointly pursuing commercialization opportunities for our combined technologies.”

Light Immersion Technology™ can be used to grow algae to remediate selenium, zinc, lead, cadmium, boron, mercury, and other undesirable elements and compounds from industrial waste streams. Blue Marble can then safely process the generated algae biomass into specialty biochemicals. The combination of these unique technologies places Blue Marble Energy and Bionavitas at the forefront of innovative clean technology solutions for numerous commercial applications.

Standing before two large tanks, Kelly Ogilvie, ’01, is waxing eloquent about aerobic and anaerobic respiration and fractional distillation. If he sounds like a scientist, there’s a good reason: In his early years, Ogilvie aspired to become a quantum physicist. Though he later chose another path, his interest in the natural world never waned. Today, Ogilvie is president of the Seattle-based company Blue Marble Energy, and the reactions taking place in those tanks herald a new source of energy that is clean and, just as importantly, commercially viable.

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By Mara Lemos Stein

Waste-to-energy and biochemicals company Blue Marble Energy Corp. raised about $1 million in a Series A round of financing, with an eye to getting another $1 million as it achieves some milestones in coming months, a company executive told Clean Technology Insight.

Seattle-based Blue Marble developed an anaerobic process to convert algae, grass clippings and food waste into gases to power generators, and into biochemicals for the food and beverage industries, said Kelly Ogilvie, Blue Marble’s chief executive, in an interview.

The lead investor in the Series A round was individual investor Rajiv Shah, who gets a seat on the company’s board. Ogilvie said that Shah is involved in bottling and distributing sodas in eastern Africa. A regulatory filing on Blue Marble’s fund-raising lists an address in Nairobi, Kenya, for Shah.

Ogilvie’s vision for Blue Marble is for the company to generate bioenergy as a by-product of its green chemicals’ manufacture, he said. The company is currently working with “a global food manufacturer and a local beverage manufacturer” on flavorings and fragrances that are made from organic waste.

“These will be certified organic flavors, which allow our commercial partners to have a different conversation with their customers…it’s carbon-neutral chemicals, no toxic byproducts,” he said.

The company, which relaunched as Blue Marble two years ago, expects that strategic partnerships with food and beverage industries’ companies will be the source of further funding for development of its technology. Otherwise, it will seek more venture capital funding.

Posted with Permission by Dow Jones Financial Information Services.

Kelly Ogilvie from Evergreen Film on Vimeo.

With a new environmental crisis forming, Ogilvie thought, ‘what better way to turn a problem into a solution?’ He devised a technology to convert wild algae into specialty chemicals and natural gas.

By focusing on algae and specialty chemicals, BME developed an innovative energy solution that produces fertilizer and chemicals as a by-product at a much cheaper cost than petroleum production.

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Blue Marble Energy (BME) isn’t your average biofuel company. BME does convert algae biomass to renewable energy, but it’s their unique strategy that sets them up for success. While many waste-to-energy companies are struggling to create a sustainable business model, BME realized that it needed to take a different approach if it was going to succeed financially. Looking into examples of other successful companies, the founders discovered — with some irony — that a model commonly used by oil companies could be applied to the biofuel business.

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Kelly Ogilvie, founder, president and CEO of Seattle-based Blue Marble Energy, says that going after biofuels alone is not enough to turn algae into a commercial success. Unlike other companies in the field, Ogilvie is working to commercialize a process that converts wild algae not only to fuel, but also into “high-margin bio-chemicals.”

Ogilvie found a few minutes to sit down with Sustainable Industries to chat about the challenges of building a startup in this economy.

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Algae are attracting a lot of attention and investment as an alternative energy source. Algae grow quickly, contain a lot of oil and don’t take up valuable farmland. Ann Dornfeld profiles one Seattle, Washington, company that is trying to turn algae into fuel.

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Blue Marble Energy featured in Greentech Media: Green Light:

Bug eat bug. That’s the business model of Blue Marble Energy.

The Seattle-based company has come up with a system for generating algal blooms in wastewater facilities and then feeding the algae to other microbes. These other microorganisms in turn metabolically convert the algae into high-value industrial chemicals like propyl butyrate, said CEO Kelly Ogilvie, speaking at the Dow Jones Alternative Energy Innovations conference taking place in Redwood City, Calif.

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Recently broadcast on KUOW Seattle 94.9FM:

Algae is attracting a lot of attention and investment as an alternative energy source. It grows quickly, contains a lot of oil, and doesn’t take up valuable farmland. Algae researchers from around the world are meeting in Seattle today (Wednesday) and tomorrow (Thursday) for the second–annual Algae Biomass Summit. KUOW’s Ann Dornfeld profiles one Seattle company that’s trying to turn algae into fuel.

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