Aquaflow technology seeks to address 2 global strategic issues – the security of energy supplies and the availability of clean water.

Making biofuel from algae
Aquaflow is using established wastewater ponds to harvest algae for conversion into biofuels. In May 2006, Aquaflow produced the world’s first biofuel derived from algae. The algae were harvested from wastewater ponds in Blenheim, New Zealand.

The 2 key steps in the Aquaflow process are:

• harvesting algae and nutrients from wastewater
• producing biofuels from harvested algae.

Improving water quality
Aquaflow technology is also being used for remediation – to remove polluting nutrients from wastewater – by taking advantage of the ability of naturally occurring algae to remove nutrients from the environment as they photosynthesise, grow and divide.

Restoring waterways
Human activities such as farming can cause contamination of waterways with excess nutrients and lead to algal blooms. Aquaflow has a pilot clean-up programme at Lake Rotorua to test whether their technology can remove unwanted nutrients and algal blooms from the lake.

Producing biochemicals
In addition to making biofuels, Aquaflow has identified a number of other interesting potential products, including bioderived chemicals that can be extracted and purified from algae.