MIPS Project Detail:

Manta Biofuel Inc.

Treating Algae to Reduce NOx Emissions in Biocrude

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Company

Manta Biofuel Inc.

Reisterstown

Baltimore

County

, Maryland

Founded:

2014

Website:

https://mantabiofuel.com/

Company Description:

Manta Biofuel is a producer of renewable algal crude oil that is cost-competitive with traditional crude oil. The company employs technological advantages in a three-step process to produce crude oil from algae. The first is growing algae. Manta can convert algae from any source, leaving options open from farming to collecting natural blooms. For the second step, harvesting the algae, Manta uses a proprietary magnetic harvester that efficiently collects and concentrates algae. The company then converts the algae to crude oil through hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL).

MIPS Project

Treating Algae to Reduce NOx Emissions in Biocrude

Project #

5906.26

|

MIPS Round

66 |

Starting Date:

Aug 2020

MIPS Project Challenge:
The goal of the company’s second MIPS project (in progress) is to reduce the nitrogen content of Manta Biofuel’s algal biocrude oil.

Project Scope:
For Manta’s second MIPS project, researchers are studying reduction in nitrogen content by pretreating the algae. The treatment utilizes the algae’s own biochemistry to strip nitrogen from the cells and expel it into the water. This reduces the amount of nitrogen in the algae before it is converted to oil. The expelled nitrogen (in the form of ammonia) will be retained by Manta and used to grow more algae.

MIPS helped my company perform research that would otherwise be impossible for our small startup to accomplish. The partnership with University of Maryland provided access to highly trained personnel and well-equipped laboratories.

Ryan Powell, Co-Founder, Manta Biofuel

Results:

Manta’s end product is crude oil (petroleum), largely equivalent to the product that is retrieved through underground drilling and later processed at refineries to produce materials such as gasoline, diesel, kerosene (related jet fuels), lubricating oils and tar. Currently, almost all crude oil consumed originates from non-renewable fossil fuels. Manta’s novel harvesting technology has the potential to drive down the cost of producing renewable crude oil to the point that it is competitive with or cheaper than fossil fuel-based crude oil, while at the same time being carbon-neutral.