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Formation of the Joint Venture for Bio-fuel produced by Algae -Aiming for the commercialization in high concentrated fuel producing algae-

On August 1st ,IHI Corporation (hereinafter “IHI”), Gene and Gene Technology Y.K. (hereinafter “G&GT”) and Neo-Morgan Laboratory Incorporated.(hereinafter “NML”) have announced that they had formulated the joint venture company to research and develop the technology for bio-fuel production using a specific algal strain which has been announced in beginning of July. The company will be named IHI NeoG Algae LLC. The formulation is planned to be held in the beginning of August and IHI will invest 400 million Japanese Yen in this LLC over the first 2 years.

Algae are the collective terms for the plant which grow in the water and generally propagate by the photosynthesis. And some of them produce fuels during their growth. Recent year, algae producing fuel have been expected as a solution for the increasing price of the petroleum oil and the global warming, for its high growth and the ability to absorb the carbon dioxide in the air.

G&GT, Which was spin out start up, from the University of Kobe, has announced the possession of the algae strain named “Enomoto Algae” that have the highest yield for this fuel production over all the algae that have been discovered in the world.
Enomoto Algae have been developed under the leadership of Prof. .Taira Enomoto and has been conducted several original strain development to suit the environment for the fuel production. Prof. Enomoto has also developed the original cultivation method for maximizing the ability of the strain.

Enomoto Algae are the algae defined as Botryococcus Braunii, but the growth amount is 1000 times larger than that of the general Botryococcus Braunii strain in terms of a monthly production.
And also this strain will have a high robustness which could be cultivated in the environment with the contamination. The final product is confirmed as high quality oil with a similarity to the heavy oil.
Algal fuel has been researched actively all over the world for the expectation to be used as an alternative for jet fuel and heavy oil. Not to say the specialties in biological plant designing and manufacturing, IHI has been carrying out the research and the development for the biological cultivation from the past. NML is a venture company that has a wide microbial and fermentation experience in pharmaceutical, chemical and food industry. NML is also known for its wide track record in algal species.
Through the formulation of this joint venture, the three companies will combine their knowledge and technology for the strain improvement, scale-up, extraction, and over all commercialization for this bio-fuel from Enomoto algae..

CEO of the IHI NeoG Algae, Tomohiro Fujita has told
“Expectation and the investment to the algae industry have increased in world wide. We believe to use the photosynthetic algae strain that will have no concern in “the food or the fuel” problems. Enomoto Algae will have the ability to change the power of the sunshine and the carbon dioxide to develop the fuel.
We proudly announce that the global company and the biotechnology venture are willing to take hand in hand to aim the goal of commercializing the amazing technology came out from Japan.
Not only for the Japanese economy, But also we are willing to protect and to improve the global environment and economy through the technology development with the anticipation of decades and centuries.”

[Information about IHI NeoG Algae]
Corporate name: IHI NeoG Algae LLC
Found: planned to be in beginning of August 2011
President: Tomohiro Fujita
Summary: Research and development, Feasibility study for the bio-fuel produced by Algae
Address: Kawasaki, Kanagawa (inside the NML)
Investor: IHI, G&GT, NML, Tomohiro Fujita

[Information about G&GT]
Spin out venture from the Kobe University to aim the commercialization of the achievement found by Dr. Taira Enomoto, Professor of the Kobe University. Beside the development of Enomoto Algae and Enomoto medium, they have been offering several service such as the methodology for genetic engineering.

[Information about NML]
NML is the company that has a unique mutagenesis platform originated from the evolutional theory and offers microbial strain development and strain optimization to pharmaceutical, chemical and food industry all over the world. Recently NML has been offering nonstop service from the strategic consulting to the marketing research, operation management and R&D.

[Contact for more information]
info-ineog@neo-morgan.com

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