BioLargo, Inc. (OTCQB:BLGO) is a cleantech and life sciences innovator and engineering services solution provider. Our core products address PFAS contamination, achieve advanced water and wastewater treatment, control odor and VOCs, improve air quality, and control infections and infectious disease. Our approach is to invent or acquire novel technologies, develop them into product offerings, and extend their commercial reach through licensing and channel partnerships to maximize their impact.

Monday, 30 November 2015

Can BioLargo Tool Kit Spark a Clean Water Revolution? - Article By Equities.com

Can BioLargo Tool Kit Spark a Clean Water Revolution?

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 30, 2015 /PRNewswire/ - The green movement has put environmental issues, such as clean energy and global warming, front and center on the world stage as the biggest names in finance, like Warren Buffet and Elon Musk, have publicly stated their ventures and investments in the renewable energy sector.

However, recurring issues such as pollution, prolonged drought, population growth and an alarming statistic by the World Health Organization that water borne illnesses account for more than 3.4 million deaths a year making it the leading cause of disease and death in the world, help highlight one vital and absolutely necessary aspect of sustainability that's often overlooked by the green movement: water management.

The world depends on clean, affordable water. Environmental issues across a number of industries including oil & gas, mining, refineries, maritime and more have increased the urgency of finding a way to safely and efficiently clean and manage water. BioLargo Inc (BLGO) , a science company that has been developing, proving, and patenting game changing technology for the past eight years, has the potential to impact some of the most important aspects of life by providing a low-cost, high-impact, sustainable solution for the clean water market.

A Company with Intensely Personal Roots

Out of concern for his father's great risk of secondary infection while in long-term convalescent care, Kenneth Reay Code, CTO of BioLargo, began scientific trials of blending low dose inorganic chemical compounds and absorbent materials in order to reduce compounding risks of secondary infections. The result was BioLargo's first patented Technology called Curpridyne, that features basic, safe, and inexpensive inorganic compounds that transform absorbent products, such as bed pads, blood pads, surgical drapes and diapers, and can also deliver entire line of formulated liquid products that combine to deliver effective tools that can help stop the transmission of life threatening disease and control hard to manage odors and cleaning systems that are unsurpassed.

The company then expanded in order to bring to market a precise iodine dosing system called the Isan System that has been licensed to Clarion Water. Clarion is busy commercializing the Isan System to serve agriculture, hydroponics, cooling tower and livestock production markets.

However, while BioLargo offers other technologies with significant commercial opportunities, most of the company's recent investment is focused on what appears to be its highest value and arguably most timely high impact proposition: affordable clean water.

Affordable & Efficient Water Treatment

BioLargo's subsidiary, BioLargo Water, Inc., is positioned to make a major impact in the clean water sector with their AOS filter. A potential disruptor in the way that contaminated water is treated, the AOS filter, the lowest cost contender, is a system that facilitates continuous and scalable treatment with maximum efficiency using GRAS components to destroy contaminants. Complimentary with multiple filter systems, the AOS filter quickly destroys contaminants and is able to extend the life of the filtration systems.

We take what would normally look like an ordinary filter and we convert it into a reactor," said Dennis Calvert, CEO of BioLargo. "We add iodine to the filter surface area and then add an electric field. The discovery is, that we can amplify the oxidation potential of the iodine across the enhanced surface area of the filter as we generate super oxides. The oxidation potential generated is an order of magnitude higher than what was known able to be generated before and the reaction can be controlled in a continuous flow treatment device. As water passes the kill zone, (the area in which this extremely high oxidation potential is being generated), contaminants are rapidly dismantled and destroyed as the water passes through the AOS filter."

Current systems used in clean water management, such as ultraviolet light, UV, chlorine, carbon filter, and ozone, while effective, present energy, oxidation level and operational issues. BioLargo's oxidation system address these issues by achieving a higher performance at a fraction of the cost.

"Our AOS Filter makes an Advanced Oxidation Process, (AOP) available to the marketplace with an increased performance rate that's never been seen before and delivers this powerful tool at the equivalent Cap-X cost of widely adapted carbon filtration technology, said Calvert." Our AOS Filter can do the job better than widely accepted UV or Ozone type systems. It can also deliver results at a lower op-x than the well-known competitors, given its incredibly low power requirements. In addition, early data suggests that the BioLargo AOS Filter may last 10 times longer than any ordinary filter technology. The combination makes a compelling value proposition for any industry that wants clean affordable water.

The company announced in August that researchers at the University of Alberta validated BioLargo's water treatment technology. Much of the work was led by Professor Lynn McMullen, the AOS Filter results provided positive insight into the technology's potential.

"The AOS Filter technology could be highly efficient in solving food safety problems and may be applied to improve food quality with the potential to improve storage life," said McMullen. "The potential applications of the BioLargo AOS filter in the food industry could be endless — from primary commodities to finished food products. The performance [disinfection] results are unprecedented."

These results followed the University of Alberta's Department of Engineering validation tests of the AOS Filter. Conducted in May 2014, these tests proved the AOS Filter effective in eliminating soluble organic contaminants.

Taking the Winning Streak into 2016

Along with a recent expansion of staff and successful technical symposiums, BioLargo has secured a number of grants and financial awards totaling over $1 million in order to advance the BioLargo AOS Filter to commercialization. Furthermore, the company just completed a $1,000,000 capital raise in Q3, and then raised another $750,000 in Q4. BioLargo has also been willing to bring in capital from long-term investors and has avoided the more common high risk financing structures so prevalent in the small cap market.

With a pilot being organized with a major Canadian poultry producer, the company also plans to gain further traction with a number of strategic marketing, partnership and financial goals over the next 12 to 18 months. "The first series of thresholds benchmarks would be additional grant support. We currently have approximately 11 grants approved. We have another 5 or 6 in the works. All cumulative and totaling about $2 million," said Calvert. "We can easily see that number doubling in 2016. Secondly, our goal is to put together at least one or two strategic alliances that offer a clear pathway to commercialization. We are focused on forming strategic alliances, partnerships to tackle the customization, engineering, scale up, low cost manufacturing and distribution to get this technology into the marketplace. All of these things need to come together. Of course a key benchmark will be to have successful execution on the pilot that is on the table already in the poultry industry. Another goal for 2016 would be to prepare for a successful up list to a larger exchange."

A Clean Water Renaissance

With Global Water Intelligence, a leading industry journal, estimating the global water market at approximately $360 billion annual revenues per year, the opportunities are large. Vital industries, such as energy, mining, healthcare and food service, are in need of meeting environmental, health and safety standards more effectively and cost efficiently. Calvert adds, "The significance of the moment for BioLargo is, that we are emerging from a pure R & D focused technology company into a company with a powerful 'tool kit' to serve customers and help them efficiently tackle real life water challenges. Our validations are beyond reproach and the technical claims, 'unprecedented'. The commercial opportunities are expanding rapidly."

Disclosure: In the purview of Section 17(B) of the Securities Act of 1933 and in the interest of full disclosure, we call the reader's attention the fact that Equities.com, Inc. may be compensated by the companies profiled in the Spotlight Companies section. The purpose of these profiles is to provide awareness of these companies to investors in the micro, small-cap and growth equity community and should not in any way come across as a recommendation to buy, sell or hold these securities. Equities.com is not a registered broker, broker dealer, investment advisor, analyst, investment banker or underwriter. All profiles are based on information that is available to the public. The information contained herein should not be considered to be all-inclusive and is not guaranteed by Equities.com to be free from misstatement or errors. Readers are reminded to do their own due diligence when researching any companies mentioned on this website.

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Friday, 20 November 2015

Falling Oil Price Forces Operators to Find Cost Savings in Water Management- Article by Dennis P Calvert - President & CEO of BioLargo, Inc.

When oil prices were 80 to 100 dollars per barrel, water management costs were high, but they were tolerable when money was flowing profitably. However, as today’s falling price nears 40 dollars, water related costs are still high and only exacerbate widespread industry losses. The 150 US-based companies tracked by Oil & Gas Journal and Oil & Gas Financial Journal reported that revenues declined by 39% in the first quarter of 2015 compared with the first quarter of 2014 and by 27% compared with the previous quarter. Net income plummeted in the first quarter by more than 36 billion dollars for the entire group of companies compared with the same quarter in 2014. It dropped by 17.7 billion dollars in three months, from the 4Q14 to 1Q15.

Nobody can predict oil’s return to higher prices, but the price has fallen steeply since 2008 when it traded as high as $140 per barrel and the bottom is not yet clear. Global economic growth is anemic, and new technologies such as super fracking are helping to create an over supply of oil and gas that is reflected in today’s extraordinarily low prices. Today, water management has become a very big concern because it represents a significant percentage of total costs. The regulatory noose continues to tighten as well, only increasing the pressure to find a better water management solution, but that is a topic for another future article.

Water related costs in frack operations include the acquisition of source water that averages 4 million gallons per well, transportation of the source water to the well, transportation of the flowback and produced water from the well to the disposal site, and fees for disposal into an injection well. The Oil & Gas Journal reports, “There are requirements such as water supply, regulations, and transportation, principally trucking (which may account for 65% to 80% of total oilfield water management expenditures).” Even with the drought, the cost of the actual source water is not the big problem. Obvious big problems continue to be high transportation costs and disposal fees that alone average 1 dollar per barrel and can often run much higher.

Trucks are by far the predominant method of transporting the water and a typical truck carrying about 100 barrels (4,200 gallons) of either fresh water or wastewater normally ranges between $95 an hour to $150 an hour just for hauling. Hauling time varies substantially depending on proximity of source water and disposal wells. That means about 1,000 truck visits are needed to service a single well to deliver the source water and a large number of truck loads to dispose of the flowback and produced water. Trucking costs alone for these operations are estimated to run close to 1.5 million dollars or 20% of the 7.5 million dollars that an average Marcellus well costs.

In addition to hauling, disposal costs average about $1.00 per barrel and can run substantially higher. In their advertisement for recycling technology, Halliburton claims that disposal costs can range from $3 to $12 per barrel. Arguably, water transportation and disposal costs may be the costliest elements of water management and also a very large percentage of total costs. On top of cost issues, strong public opposition to the heavy truck traffic associated with frack operations should be considered because it can sometimes stall or prohibit drilling permits from being issued.

The following chart prepared by researchers at the University of Texas illustrates that transportation heavy freshwater is by far the most commonly used source water for frac operations followed by the distant second choice of brackish groundwater. Recycling is the third and least used potential source of water, but if used on site, it could greatly reduce the big transportation costs and disposal fees.

The burning question is, “With oil prices so low, and the need to slash water transportation and disposal costs, why is recycling being underutilized?”

The answer is that existing recycling methods are based on older and less efficient technologies that are simply too expensive and not cost-effective. For example, Halliburton, a leader in oilfield services, has been advertising and promoting its own brand of recycling technology called H2OForward™, but has been conspicuously absent for the past year during the steep decline of oil prices. The high energy cost of UV and electro-coagulation combined with low oil prices have very likely slowed adoption of Halliburton’s H2OForward™ recycling system probably causing the company to temporarily shelf it until higher prices return. West Virginia University published a report, “Zero Discharge Water Management”, discussing other recycling technologies and claimed that the cost to treat frac water with evaporation/crystallization runs close to a staggering $140 per 1,000 gallons as opposed to Reverse Osmosis that runs between $6 to $10 per 1,000 gallons.

In a research publication reviewed by the Department of Energy on June 30, 2015, the NETL (National Energy Technology Laboratory) of the DOE sums up the basic reasons why recycling is not being adopted today, “The U.S. Department Of Energy (DOE) is also interested in increasing the effectiveness of flowback water treatment processes because conventional water treatment technologies such as chemical treatment, filtration, reverse osmosis, distillation, etc., must be adapted to treat a range of flowback water chemistries and have disadvantages such (as) high cost, significant energy consumption, and low efficiency.”

When oil prices were higher, Walter Dale, a business manager for water solutions at Halliburton said, “Let’s not treat the water, let’s not take the salt out. We can make frack fluids out of it.” Vikram Rao who spent more than 30 years with Halliburton as senior vice president and chief technology officer partially agrees with Mr. Dale and is now a technical advisor to BioLargo. Dr. Rao points out, “Massive amounts of water used in new wells and in sweeping or flooding secondary recovery operations do not need to be freshwater. Reused water and underground brackish water are two obvious sources for replacement. In fact, brackish water and recycled water are even preferred over freshwater if its salinity is compatible.”

Rao elaborates, “For drilling operations, a little salinity will prevent swelling of clay, and since clay is a component of shale, preventing swelling is useful in the drilling and fracturing phases of operations. For water flooding, a little salinity is useful in unlocking oil from the formation. A technical explanation is that the salinity has to be monovalent, such as from Na (sodium). In one mechanism, oil is bound to the rock by a divalent species. The monovalent exchanges ions, thus releasing the oil from the rock.”

On Site Recycling To Slash Water Management Costs

Any technology that could greatly reduce transportation and disposal costs could not only save money, but it could help restore many operators to profitability. To be cost-effective, this technology would have to be installed on site in close proximity to wells to disinfect the frac water and to eliminate certain soluble organics such as BTEX, aromatics, and napthenic acids.BioLargo has been working on the problem of providing cost-effective water management for over 7 years, and now has a proven solution that is ready for commercialization.

On August 17^th, a team of researchers at the University of Alberta unveiled the AOS Filter/Reactor to an audience of over 30 experts from oil & gas, water treatment, maritime, academia, government and finance. Findings from over 100 studies were presented and demonstrated the AOS Filter/Reactor’s ability to disinfect pathogens 100 times more effectively than chlorine, at 10 times the speed, and at only 1/20^th of the cost of the closest competitor. One year earlier, the AOS Filter/Reactor received the coveted Technology Star Award from New Technology Magazine, known as the First Word on Oil Patch Innovation.

We are confident that the AOS Filter/Reactor is the answer to Water Management issues that the industry is searching for, but we also know that successfully taking a revolutionary and disruptive technology to market is a Herculean task that will require a formidable industry partner and begs for public research dollars to sponsor the engineering and design work to deliver a scalable solution. Discussions with potential partners after the recent unveiling are accelerating as our company continues to seek the best-fitting partner to quickly bring the AOS Filter/Reactor to market. Industry is well aware that the stakes are high.

BioLargo AOS Filter:

Unprecedented advanced oxidation:

Disinfects at less than 1/20th the energy cost of the nearest technical competitor, greater than 100 times the efficacy, and more than 10 times faster.

Especially effective removing soluble organics like napthenic acids, 1,4 dioxane, benzene, and aromatics.

The AOS Filter/Reactor combines iodine, water filter materials and electrolysis within a flow-through water filter device, generating extremely high oxidation potential that easily and quickly eliminates soluble organic contaminants and efficiently delivers extremely high rates of disinfection. The science behind the AOS Filter represents an astonishing discovery that will fundamentally change the way water is treated.

Remarkably, the BioLargo AOS Filter/Reactor uses commonly understood materials that are readily available, and it operates at ultra-low power levels. Its configuration essentially converts what would ordinarily be considered a typical filter into a safe and highly effective electrochemical reactor that generates extremely high levels of oxidation potential across the surfaces within the device. As a result, it can do the job at a fraction of the time and cost of any other known technology.

AOS Filter/Reactor CAP-X and OP-X Savings

Our team at BioLargo has already assembled hundreds of AOS Filter/Reactors from readily available parts as the company prepares for its first customer led commercial pilots. The cost to build one complete AOS Filter/Reactor system and the operating costs are a fraction of today’s competing systems. We expect to save large industries billions of dollars per year.

In her thesis at Tallinn University, “Advanced Oxidation Processes for Water Purification and Soil”, Anna Goi calculated the energy costs to operate UV and ozone technologies at varying pH levels to promote advanced oxidation and found that they can run in a wide range of anywhere from $100 per acre foot to as high as several thousand dollars per acre/foot. Energy cost for the AOS Filter/Reactor in a high saline environment is less than 1/20^th the lowest cost in Goi’s study and is also less than 1/20^th the energy cost of the nearest competing technology. While cost savings is an obvious economic driver, the inherent nature of dealing with difficult contaminants and enhancing safety for workers and the environment only add to the value proposition.

The AOS Filter/Reactor Is Very Close To Commercialization

The next step for BioLargo is to engineer the unit to fit our customers’ needs to provide cost-effective on-site recycling of flowback and produced water. We have a number of experts in this area now working directly with our company to identify the key challenges and begin the arduous process of refinement to tackle the very high volume and demanding challenges. The large cost savings the AOS Filter/Reactor can provide has the potential to help return profitability to the oil & gas industry and at the same time benefit global economic growth by providing greater quantities of cheaper energy. Any energy producer dedicated to pursuing best practices for increased sustainability and profitability will find the AOS Filter/Reactor very compelling.

This article was brought to you by BioLargo. BioLargo, Inc. designs and delivers nature’s disinfectant iodine. Its technologies include AOS Filter, CupriDyne, and Isan system.

Can BioLargo Tool Kit Spark a Clean Water Revolution? - Equities.com Article by Steve Kanaval

The green movement has put environmental issues, such as clean energy and global warming, front and center on the world stage as the biggest names in finance, like Warren Buffet and Elon Musk, have publicly stated their ventures and investments in the renewable energy sector.

However, recurring issues such as pollution, prolonged drought, population growth and an alarming statistic by the World Heath Organization that water born illnesses account for more than 3.4 million deaths a year making it the leading cause of disease and death in the world, help highlight one vital and absolutely necessary aspect of sustainability that’s often overlooked by the green movement: water management.

The world depends on clean, affordable water. Environmental issues across a number of industries including oil & gas, mining, refineries, maritime and more have increased the urgency of finding a way to safely and efficiently clean and manage water. BioLargo Inc (BLGO) , a science company that has been developing, proving, and patenting game changing technology for the past eight years, has the potential to impact some of the most important aspects of life by providing a low-cost, high-impact, sustainable solution for the clean water market.

A Company with Intensely Personal Roots

Out of concern for his father’s great risk of secondary infection while in long-term convalescent care, Kenneth Reay Code, CTO of BioLargo, began scientific trials of blending low dose inorganic chemical compounds and absorbent materials in order to reduce compounding risks of secondary infections. The result was BioLargo’sfirst patented Technology called Curpridyne, that features basic, safe, and inexpensive inorganic compounds that transform absorbent products, such as bed pads, blood pads, surgical drapes and diapers, and can also deliver entire line of formulated liquid products that combine to deliver effective tools that can help stop the transmission of life threatening disease and control hard to manage odors and cleaning systems that are unsurpassed.

However, while BioLargo offers other technologies with significant commercial opportunities, most of the company’s recent investment is focused on what appears to be its highest value and arguably most timely high impact proposition: affordable clean water.

Affordable & Efficient Water Treatment

BioLargo’s subsidiary, BioLargo Water, Inc., is positioned to make a major impact in the clean water sector with their AOS filter. A potential disruptor in the way that contaminated water is treated, the AOS filter, the lowest cost contender, is a system that facilitates continuous and scalable treatment with maximum efficiency using GRAS components to destroy contaminants. Complimentary with multiple filter systems, the AOS filter quickly destroys contaminants and is able to extend the life of the filtration systems.

We take what would normally look like an ordinary filter and we convert it into a reactor.,” said Dennis Calvert, CEO of BioLargo. “We add iodine to the filter surface area and then add an electric field. The discovery is, that we can amplify the oxidation potential of the iodine across the enhanced surface area of the filter as we generate super oxides. The oxidation potential generated is an order of magnitude higher than what was known able to be generated before and the reaction can be controlled in a continuous flow treatment device. As water passes the kill zone, (the area in which this extremely high oxidation potential is being generated), contaminants are rapidly dismantled and destroyed as the water passes through the AOS filter.”

Current systems used in clean water management, such as ultraviolet light, UV, chlorine, carbon filter, and ozone, while effective, present energy, oxidation level and operational issues. BioLargo’s oxidation system address these issues by achieving a higher performance at a fraction of the cost.

“Our AOS Filter makes an Advanced Oxidation Process, (AOP) available to the marketplace with an increased performance rate that's never been seen before and delivers this powerful tool at the equivalent Cap-X cost of widely adapted carbon filtration technology, said Calvert.” Our AOS Filter can do the job better than widely accepted UV or Ozone type systems. It can also deliver results at a lower op-x than the well-know competitors, given its incredibly low power requirements. In addition, early data suggests that the BioLargo AOS Filter may last 10 times longer than any ordinary filter technology. The combination makes a compelling value proposition for any industry that wants clean affordable water.

The company announced in August that researchers at the University of Alberta validated BioLargo’s water treatment technology. Much of the work was led by Professor Lynn McMullen, the AOS Filter results provided positive insight into the technology’s potential.

“The AOS Filter technology could be highly efficient in solving food safety problems and may be applied to improve food quality with the potential to improve storage life,” said McMullen. “The potential applications of the BioLargo AOS filter in the food industry could be endless — from primary commodities to finished food products. The performance [disinfection] results are unprecedented.”

These results followed the University of Alberta’s Department of Engineering validation tests of the AOS Filter. Conducted in May 2014, these tests proved the AOS Filter effective in eliminating soluble organic contaminants.

Taking the Winning Streak into 2016

With a pilot being organized with a major Canadian poultry producer, the company also plans to gain further traction with a number of strategic marketing, partnership and financial goals over the next 12 to 18 months. “The first series of thresholds benchmarks would be additional grant support. We currently have approximately 11 grants approved. We have another 5 or 6 in the works. All cumulative and totaling about $2 million,” said Calvert. “We can easily see that number doubling in 2016. Secondly, our goal is to put together at least one or two strategic alliances that offer a clear pathway to commercialization. We are focused on forming strategic alliances, partnerships to tackle the customization, engineering, scale up, low cost manufacturing and distribution to get this technology into the marketplace. All of these things need to come together. Of course a key benchmark will be to have successful execution on the pilot that is on the table already in the poultry industry. Another goal for 2016 would be to prepare for a successful up list to a larger exchange.”

A Clean Water Renaissance

With Global Water Intelligence, a leading industry journal, estimating the global water market at approximately $360 billion annual revenues per year, the opportunities are large. Vital industries, such as energy, mining, healthcare and food service, are in need of meeting environmental, health and safety standards more effectively and cost efficiently. Calvert adds, “The significance of the moment for BioLargo is, that we are emerging from a pure R & D focused technology company into a company with a powerful ‘tool kit’ to serve customers and help them efficiently tackle real life water challenges. Our validations are beyond reproach and the technical claims, ‘unprecedented’. The commercial opportunities are expanding rapidly.”

DISCLOSURE: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors, and do not represent the views of equities.com. Readers should not consider statements made by the author as formal recommendations and should consult their financial advisor before making any investment decisions. To read our full disclosure, please go to: http://www.equities.com/disclaimer

- See more at: http://www.equities.com/spotlight/spotlight-companies/can-biolargo-tool-kit-spark-a-clean-water-revolution#sthash.C3BmfyYj.dpuf

Wednesday, 18 November 2015

BioLargo's AOS Filter Poised to Create Windfall for Oil & Gas Producers

REDONDO BEACH, CA / ACCESSWIRE / November 18, 2015 / When oil was trading at 80 to 100 dollars per barrel, there was plenty of room to pay for the high cost of water management for fracking operations, however, now that the price of oil is falling and flirting with 40 dollars per barrel, profit margins are upside down, and continuing high water management costs are exacerbating widespread industry losses.

Water management for fracking operations includes the acquisition of source water that averages 4 million gallons per well, transportation of the source water to the well, transportation of the flowback and produced water from the well to the disposal site, and fees for disposal into an injection well. Southwestern Energy (NYSE:SWN) CEO Steve Mueller, estimates that water transportation for a single well, primarily trucking, costs around $1.5 million or 25% of the $6 million that an average Marcellus well costs.

Trucks are the predominant method of transporting the water and a typical truck carrying about 100 barrels (4,200 gallons) of either fresh water or wastewater normally ranges between $95 an hour to $150 an hour just for hauling. Hauling time varies substantially depending on proximity of source water and disposal wells. With an average well requiring about 4 million gallons of water, that means about 1,000 truck visits are needed, plus an additional large number of truck loads to dispose of the flowback and produced water.

In addition to hauling, disposal costs average about $1.00 per barrel and can frequently run substantially higher. In their advertisement for recycling technology, Halliburton claims that disposal costs can range from $3 to $12 per barrel. Arguably, water transportation and disposal costs may be the costliest elements of water management and also a very large percentage of total costs. On top of cost issues, strong public opposition to the heavy truck traffic associated with fracking operations should be considered because it can sometimes stall or prohibit drilling permits from being issued.

The following chart prepared by researchers at the University of Texas illustrates that transportation reliant freshwater is by far the most commonly used source water for fracking operations followed by the distant second choice of brackish groundwater. Recycling is the third and least used potential source of water, but if used on site, it could greatly reduce the big transportation costs and disposal fees.

The big question is, "With oil prices so low, and the need to slash water transportation and disposal costs, why is recycling being underutilized?"

The answer is that existing recycling methods are based on older and less efficient technologies that are simply too expensive and not cost-effective. For example, Halliburton, a leader in oilfield services, has been advertising and promoting its own brand of recycling technology called H2OForward(TM), but has been conspicuously absent for the past year during the steep decline of oil prices. The high energy cost of UV and electro-coagulation combined with low oil prices have very likely slowed adoption of Halliburton's H2OForward(TM) recycling system probably causing the company to temporarily shelf it until higher prices return. West Virginia University published a report, "Zero Discharge Water Management," discussing other recycling technologies and claimed that the cost to treat fracking water with evaporation/crystallization runs close to a staggering $140 per 1,000 gallons as opposed to Reverse Osmosis that runs between $6 to $10 per 1,000 gallons.

In a research publication reviewed by the Department of Energy on June 30, 2015, the NETL (National Energy Technology Laboratory) of the DOE sums up the basic reasons why recycling is not being adopted today, "The U.S. Department Of Energy (DOE) is also interested in increasing the effectiveness of flowback water treatment processes because conventional water treatment technologies such as chemical treatment, filtration, reverse osmosis, distillation, etc., must be adapted to treat a range of flowback water chemistries and have disadvantages such (as) high cost, significant energy consumption, and low efficiency."

When oil prices were higher, Walter Dale, a business manager for water solutions at Halliburton said, "Let's not treat the water, let's not take the salt out. We can make frack fluids out of it." Vikram Rao who spent more than 30 years with Halliburton as senior vice president and chief technology officer partially agrees with Mr. Dale and is now a technical advisor to BioLargo. Dr. Rao points out, "Massive amounts of water used in new wells and in sweeping or flooding secondary recovery operations do not need to be freshwater. Reused water and underground brackish water are two obvious sources for replacement. In fact, brackish water and recycled water are even preferred over freshwater if its salinity is compatible."

On Site Recycling Could Slash Water Management Costs

Any technology that could greatly reduce transportation and disposal costs would be a windfall to operators because it could not only save money, but it could help restore many operators to profitability. To be cost-effective, this technology would have to be installed on site in close proximity to wells to eliminate or reduce costly truck hauling. BioLargo has been working on the problem of providing cost-effective water management for over 7 years, and now has a proven solution that is ready for commercialization.

Like most oil producers, Legacy Reserves LP (LGCY), Goodrich Petroleum Corp. (GDP) and Halcon Resources (HK) have been reporting growing losses over the past 2 years that appear to be increasing as the price of oil continues its downward descent. Reducing water management costs could significantly improve this situation for the companies and shareholders.

BioLargo AOS Filter

- Disinfects at less than 1/20th the energy cost of the nearest technical competitor, greater than 100 times the efficacy, and more than 10 times faster.

- Especially effective removing soluble organics like napthenic acids, 1,4 dioxane, sulfur compounds, benzene, and aromatics.

On August 17th, a team of researchers at the University of Alberta unveiled the BioLargo, Inc. (BLGO) AOS Filter/Reactor to an audience of over 30 experts from oil & gas, water treatment, maritime, academia, government and finance. Findings from over 100 studies were presented and demonstrated the AOS Filter/Reactor's ability to disinfect pathogens 100 times more effectively than chlorine, at 10 times the speed, and at only 1/20th of the cost of the closest competitor. One year earlier, the AOS Filter/Reactor received the coveted Technology Star Award from New Technology Magazine, known as the First Word on Oil Patch Innovation.

Dennis Calvert, BioLargo CEO says, "We are confident that the AOS Filter is the best answer to Water Management issues that the industry is searching for, but we also know that successfully taking a revolutionary and disruptive technology to market is a Herculean task that will require a formidable industry partner and begs for public research dollars to sponsor the engineering and design work to deliver a scalable solution. Discussions with potential partners after the recent unveiling are accelerating as our company continues to seek the best-fitting partner to quickly bring the AOS Filter/Reactor to market. Industry is well aware that the stakes are high."

Calvert continuing, "The AOS Filter/Reactor combines iodine, water filter materials and electrolysis within a flow-through water filter device, generating extremely high oxidation potential that easily and quickly eliminates soluble organic contaminants and efficiently delivers extremely high rates of disinfection. The science behind the AOS Filter represents an astonishing discovery that will fundamentally change the way water is treated."

AOS Filter/Reactor CAP-X and OP-X Savings

BioLargo has already assembled hundreds of AOS Filter/Reactors from readily available parts as the company prepares for its first customer led commercial pilots. The cost to build one complete AOS Filter/Reactor system and the operating costs are a fraction of today's competing systems. BioLargo expects to save large industries billions of dollars per year.

In her thesis at Tallinn University, "Advanced Oxidation Processes for Water Purification and Soil," Anna Goi calculated the energy costs to operate UV and ozone technologies at varying pH levels to promote advanced oxidation and found that they can run in a wide range of anywhere from $100 per acre foot to as high as several thousand dollars per acre/foot. Energy cost for the AOS Filter/Reactor in a high saline environment is less than 1/20th the lowest cost in Goi's study and is also less than 1/20th the energy cost of the nearest competing technology.

The AOS Filter/Reactor Is Very Close To Commercialization

The next step for BioLargo is to engineer the unit to fit customers' needs to provide cost-effective on-site recycling of flowback and produced water. A number of experts in this area are now working to identify the key challenges and begin the arduous process of refinement to tackle the very high volume and demanding challenges. The large cost savings the AOS Filter/Reactor can provide has the potential to help return profitability to the oil & gas industry and at the same time benefit global economic growth by providing greater quantities of cheaper energy. Any energy producer dedicated to pursuing best practices for increased sustainability and profitability will find the AOS Filter/Reactor very compelling. Investors searching for difficult-to-find pure water treatment plays will also find BioLargo compelling.

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SOURCE: Emerging Growth LLC

Saturday, 7 November 2015

Wall Street Journal Article: Oil Slump Forces Deep Cuts by Service Providers - Highlights need for BioLargo's Lowest Cost & Highest Impact Solution

This is a great article from the Wall Street Journal that points to the need for BioLargo's AOS Filter - the lowest cost & highest impact clean water technology! Go BioLargo!

Oil Slump Forces Deep Cuts by Service Providers

Oil-field service companies feel the pinch as producers pull back

SELINA WILLIAMS

Updated Nov. 6, 2015 5:10 a.m. ET

Oil-field service companies are slashing costs amid an industry-rattling fall in crude prices, and no cut is too small—such as using white paint instead of yellow on underwater equipment.

“It’s not big money,” said Hallvard Hasselknippe, president of subsea at Technip SA, noting that adding pigment to make the industry standard yellow paint is more expensive. “There are many examples like this.”

The French energy engineering and construction company has been forced to take more drastic measures as well, saying in July it would cut 6,000 jobs. But scouring for even small cost savings marks a significant shift for the oil industry, which is renowned for its giant, customized projects that over the past decade became ever more complex and expensive.

Such moves come amid upheaval in the oil-field services industry, which finds itself competing for a shrinking number of oil projects with crude now trading at less than $50 a barrel, half its price from the summer of 2014. There have been tens of thousands of layoffs this year and huge mergers, such as the $35 billion tie-up of American behemoths Halliburton Co. and Baker Hughes Inc.

The service companies, which provide drilling rigs, conduct geological surveys and outfit exploration and production vessels, among other tasks, have taken it on the chin as BP PLC, Exxon MobilCorp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC and other customers have slashed spending on new oil and gas projects.

Schlumberger Ltd., the world’s biggest oil-services company, last month reported a near halving of its third-quarter profit as revenue fell 33% from a year earlier. Halliburton, whose tie-up with Baker Hughes could be completed in December, swung to loss in the third quarter. Also, in the past week, engineering and project-management company Amec Foster Wheeler PLC issued a profit warning and pump and valve maker Weir Group PLC said it had cut 400 jobs in the third quarter.

Next year could be even worse. With oil producers pulling back more than $200 billion in spending this year and next, Scotland-based energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie expects only 10 new projects globally to garner investment commitments. This would compound problems for the oil-field services sector, which has the capacity to support an average of 40 to 50 new energy projects a year.

“It’s a huge falloff,” said James Webb, an analyst at Wood Mackenzie. “The primary response from the service industry has been very much survival mode—cutting their own margins, bidding competitively and reducing capacity.”

The companies now are looking to standardize equipment, specifications and processes and to link with other industry players to save money. In some cases, they want to lower costs enough to convince oil companies to revive projects they had put on ice.

“It’s not because we’re nice. It’s one way for us to secure more volume, more business,” said Bernard Duroc-Danner, who heads Weatherford International, one of the world’s biggest drilling contractors.

At both the oil-services division of General Electric Co. and Norway’s Aker Solutions ASA, engineers are working to break the habit of customizing equipment for every subsea project by creating templates that work industrywide.

Schlumberger is counting on savings from its $12.7 billion acquisition of Cameron International Corp., which makes and installs the equipment that sits atop a well, such as valves, pumps and blowout preventers. The tie-up would allow them to offer equipment and services in one package, the companies say.

Schlumberger CEO Paal Kibsgaard said the bundling could be particularly effective in lowering costs for deepwater drilling, among the industry’s most-expensive undertakings. Goldman Sachs said in a recent report that 75% of deepwater projects aren’t currently profitable at an oil price of $60 a barrel.

“I think we can simplify, we can standardize, we can engineer costs out of the system,” Mr. Kibsgaard said on a conference call last month.

There are downsides to a one-size-fits-all strategy, some executives said.

“You will get cost efficiency from standardization, but you will almost certainly give up something on the production side,” said one senior oil-company executive, who asked not to be identified.

Paal Kibsgaard, CEO of Schlumberger. PHOTO: ADEICHEV SERGEI/TASS/ZUMA PRESS

The more cost-conscious approach is a far cry from the era of rising oil prices, when blockbuster developments were commissioned, like the Chevron Corp.-led Gorgon natural-gas export project in Australia. That $54 billion project is now more than 90% complete and parts of it are being commissioned, Chevron said on its website.

The tough times require the oil industry to think and work in a different way, says Bruno Chabas, the CEO of Netherlands-based SBM Offshore, that builds, installs and operates floating platforms for oil production.

Mr. Chabas said he and others have been pushing oil producers to change how they solicit work from service companies. He says some projects could be 30%-to-50% less expensive if service providers are allowed to do more of the engineering, rather than having to hew to 30,000-page tenders with everything already specified.

“It’s a battle, because it really requires a lot of change in the mind of our clients, but it’s really something which is necessary,” Mr. Chabas said in an earnings call in August.

Some oil-company executives contend they are best placed to know what is required and don’t over-engineer projects before putting them out for tender.

But with oil at $50 a barrel or less, projects aren’t moving forward. Big oil companies are instead scaling down and squeezing contractors on costs.

“We believe there will be even bigger savings in the long-term,” said Technip’s Mr. Hasselknippe.

Write to Selina Williams at selina.williams@wsj.com