Cellana and PIVEG have signed a letter of intent to jointly develop and commercialize Omega-3 oils and other high-value applications from algae biomass.
Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
Cellana presently produces industrial-scale quantities of ReNew Algae — high-value algae biomass rich in Omega-3 nutritional oils, proteins, fuel-grade oils, cosmetic-grade oils, acids, and polysaccharides, as well as other valuable micronutrients — at its Kona demonstration plant in Hawaii.
PIVEG produces and sells pigments and related products derived from natural sources such as marigold, chilli peppers and algae. It has its facilities in Mexico, Peru and US.
Initially, PIVEG will receive material from Cellana from its Kona Demonstration Facility in Hawaii. The material will be processed at PIVEG’s facilities in Central Mexico.
Cellana CEO Martin Sabarsky said: "PIVEG's extensive experience in processing agricultural feedstocks to produce and bring to market high-value products makes them the ideal partner to work with Cellana to rapidly commercialize material from our algae feedstocks.
"Additionally they bring world-class quality systems, which will allow us to bring to market our products with confidence. We are extremely impressed with PIVEG's people and capabilities, and they are an ideal partner to grow the algae industry.”
Both the companies, at the same time will also pursue the development of larger scale commercial algae biomass production facilities in Hawaii and Mexico.
PIVEG CEO Roberto Espinoza said: “Cellana is a leader in growing diverse algae outdoors using sunlight, and our ability to process Cellana's algae biomass using our existing equipment and facilities allows us to expand our current portfolio and rapidly introduce additional algae-based products.
"We have spent several years exploring the idea of an expansion and additional algae biomass sources and are pleased to partner with Cellana in this endeavor."
