The three Spanish operators visited the Technological Platform for Experimentation with Microalgae (PTEM) and showed their interest in the AlgaEnergy’s activities.

AlgaEnergy welcomed AENA (world's leading airport operator by number of passengers) and RENFE (Spanish state-owned railway operator), last 22^nd of March. This visit was framed within the Innovation Plan for Transportation 2017-2020, promoted by the Ministry of Development and managed by INECO. The plan aims to integrate and coordinate the innovation activities of the companies that are part of ‘Fomento Group'. At the same time, it aims to promote the innovation and the collaboration with the private sector and the universities.

The agenda included a presentation of the company and a visit to the Technological Platform for Experimentation with Microalgae, a pilot plant located at the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas International Airport. The representatives from RENFE also explained their innovative project towards a railways mobility based leveraging biodiesel.

The fruitful meeting is yet another example of the general interest in obtaining a more sustainable biofuels source, as well as to define the guidelines for possible future collaborations.

Obtaining cleaner and inexhaustible microalgae based biofuels

Augusto Rodríguez-Villa, AlgaEnergy’s President, welcomed the attendees and presented the company. Rodríguez-Villa commented that "obtaining cleaner and inexhaustible microalgae based biofuels is one of our long term priorities, to which we are directing considerable efforts in terms of R&D, which in many cases share common objectives with other microalgae derived business lines". In this sense, Federico Witt Sousa, Production Director, showcased the progress of the AlgaEnergy’s investigations in the biofuels sector. This research has its origin in the Genetdiesel® project, a R&D program opened by AlgaEnergy –developed in collaboration with the CSIC and the University of Seville- consisting in microalgae and cyanobacteria selection and genetic improvement for the production of biodiesel.

AlgaEnergy is currently collaborating with the “Rey Juan Carlos” University (URJC) to carry out an Industrial Doctorate in this field of science and knowledge. Under the title "Environmental, energy and economic analysis of the production of advanced biofuels from microalgae", its objective is the sustainable production of biofuels obtained from these microorganisms. The goal of the project, which has a duration of 3 years and is partly financed by the Community of Madrid, is part of the Horizon 2020 framework, since “safer, cleaner and more efficient energy” is one the three priorities of the Societal Challenges to be addressed.

After the presentation, the attendees visited the facilities of the Technological Platform for Experimentation with Microalgae. María Segura, Technical Director of AlgaEnergy, guided a tour around the technology that AlgaEnergy has developed for the cultivation of microalgae.