Pond Technologies Holdings announced that AB Agri has begun to grow algae following the delivery of a Pond Algae Lab. The initial algae grown in this lab will be used in the bioreactor scale up process.
Pond Technologies Holdings Inc., an ESG company addressing global sustainability challenges of wellness and climate change, has provided an update on its agreement with Livalta, an AB Agri company which is a subsidiary of Associated British Foods. Pond explained that the installation of an algae lab, along with a number of Pond designed algae bioreactors, has been successfully installed on site at AB Agri’s British Sugar plant in Wissington, UK.
Pond built a system of smaller 60 L bioreactors and controls at its Canadian headquarters in Markham, Ontario, and has delivered, installed, and commissioned the system at the AB Agri Wissington location. Pond worked with AB Agri to specify the equipment needed to set up the lab which is an important step to support the 1,500 L and 10,000 L pilot bioreactors in Wissington in 2023. The initial algae grown in this lab will be used in the bioreactor scale up process.
“This is our first step towards piloting Pond’s technology to grow algae using CO2 emissions as feedstock – or, as we would put it, take a problem (CO2 emissions) out of the air and convert it into high value protein. There is still some way to go, but we have made a start with a great team effort between Livalta, AB Agri, British Sugar and Pond Technologies,” said Valerie Schuster, Managing Director of Livalta (a division of AB Agri).
Grant Smith, President & CEO at Pond, added: “Installing the lab and initial seed train is the first stage in any algal project because doing so permits larger commercial scale photobioreactors. We are excited to report that algae growth has begun, and we anticipate that larger bioreactors will go online in 2023.”
