Los Angeles, CA November 10, 2009 – OriginOil, Inc. (OOIL), the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum, announced that the company’s chief executive officer, Riggs Eckelberry, will speak in the Keynote Session of the Next Generation Biofuels Feedstocks conference in San Francisco on November 16, 2009.

Eckelberry will join representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Algal Biomass Organization (ABO), Green Flight Foundation, Solazyme, Energy Biosciences Institute and Monsanto as a keynote speaker. He will join the keynote session “Plantation & Sustainable Feedstock Supplies,” which will explore the potential role of next generation biofuels and their impacts on land use and sustainability. “Recent data have challenged the long-held belief that biofuels reduce greenhouse gases,” said Eckelberry. “I’m very excited to help address this important issue head-on.”

“As we learned at the United Nations back in June, Riggs Eckelberry addresses emerging green controversies very persuasively,” said Robson Mello, Secretary-General of the Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Organization (IREO). “I am sure that this audience will appreciate his participation in the keynote.”

The Next Generation Biofuels Feedstocks conference will be held from November 16-17, 2009, at Le Meridien Hotel in San Francisco.  The event will cover developments in Algae, Jatropha, Cellulosic and Wood Based Ethanol, Camelina, Biobutanol, Miscanthus, Sweet Sorghum, Drop in Fuels, Bio-Oils and Synthetic Fuels. For more information or to attend the event, visit www.greenpowerconferences.com.

Los Angeles, CA November 03, 2009 – OriginOil, Inc. (OOIL), the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum, announced that the company’s Chief Scientist, Dr. Vikram Pattarkine, will address an investor-oriented audience with a presentation on algal biofuels during the Bioenergy Day 2009 Conference in Toronto, on November 24, 2009.

Dr. Pattarkine will be a panel presenter at a session entitled, “North American Advanced Bioenergy,” where he will discuss alternative energy sources and algal biofuels as a promising and much-needed technology solution.

Unlike many current approaches to algae oil cultivation, OriginOil is rapidly moving toward the path of commercialization by employing several next-generation technologies to greatly enhance oil extraction, which allows for the creation of a high-yield, cost-competitive replacement for petroleum.

“We continue to expand in the tech arena and look forward to utilizing biofuels to its fullest potential,” said Dr. Pattarkine. “The Canadian government has committed to a 5 per cent average renewable content in gasoline and diesel fuels by 2010, and we believe algae would be one of the most promising feedstocks for achieving this goal.”

OriginOil recently unveiled a series of announcements, including: a Single Step Extraction™, or a low energy process to extract oil from algae; the completion of Phase 1 of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to develop a comprehensive mass-energy balance of OriginOil’s proprietary process; and patent protection for its new Attached Growth System, which plans to be integrated into a demonstration algae system currently being built at OriginOil’s headquarters.

Dr. Pattarkine and OriginOil CEO Riggs Eckelberry recently spoke at the National Algae Association’s quarterly Conference in Houston and outlined a plan to share the first-ever interactive model for algae production. Earlier this year, Dr. Pattarkine also spoke at the Asian Development Bank’s Annual Developing Member Countries Sanitation Dialogue on how algae could be integrated into wastewater treatment applications.

BioEnergy Day 2009 is a unique one-day conference and opportunity for institutional investors to meet with executives from power, oil refining, forest products, fertilizer and sustainable fuel companies. The conference will take place on Tuesday, November 24 at Le Royal Meridien King Edward Hotel in Toronto, Ontario.  A webcast of the event will be available at www.scotiacapital.com.

Los Angeles, CA October 26, 2009 – OriginOil, Inc. (OOIL), the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum, today announced that Single Step Extraction™, OriginOil’s low energy process to extract oil from algae, has reached the highest industry standards for oil extraction efficiency.

In a long-running collaboration with an advanced research lab at California State University, Long Beach, OriginOil has optimized its Single Step Extraction process to reach the highest industry level for algae oil extraction. The typical efficiency for oil extraction is 94-97%.

OriginOil’s recent breakthrough can extract up to 97% of the oil from algae cells.  “This level of efficiency is astonishing for a process that requires less than a tenth of the energy of conventional processes, and without needing chemicals,” said Riggs Eckelberry, OriginOil’s CEO. “I congratulate our lead researcher, Dr. Dheeban Kannan, and the team at Cal-State Long Beach IIRMES for their achievement and very hard work.”

“We have been working with OriginOil of Los Angeles for the past several months developing a method for lipid determination and we now feel that we have a very reliable method,” said Richard Gossett, Director of the Institute for Integrated Research in Materials, Environments and Societies (IIRMES), an advanced research and analytical laboratory at California State University, Long Beach. “Using this method, we have tested OriginOil’s Single-Step Extraction process with excellent results.  With the optimization of this procedure, we look forward to welcoming other algae companies to use our laboratory.”

A time-lapse video of OriginOil’s Single Step Process is available at www.originoil.com, beginning with a batch of algae that has just gone through the process. In less than an hour, the oil, water and biomass separate by gravity alone. Unlike conventional systems, no chemicals or heavy machinery are used in this single-step process, and no initial dewatering is required.

OriginOil chief scientist Dr Vikram Pattarkine said, “With the performance efficiency of our process now validated, we can proceed with system level optimizations and pilot scale development with our commercial partners.”

Harvesting algae is a challenge. Algae grows suspended in large volumes of water. Once ready for harvest, the algae culture must be concentrated and the oil extracted from each cell. Then, the oil, water and biomass must all be separated for processing. OriginOil’s Single Step Extraction achieves all these steps in one pass. In the process, the company’s Quantum Fracturing™ technology combines with electromagnetic pulses and pH modification to break down cell walls, thereby releasing the oil within these cells. Algae oil rises to the top for skimming and refining, while the remaining biomass settles to the bottom for further processing as fuel and other valuable products.

Los Angeles, CA October 7, 2009 – OriginOil, Inc. (OOIL), the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum, today announced the completion of Phase 1 of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL).

OriginOil has been working with INL to develop a process model for the commercial production of algae for biofuels and other value-added products.  Phase 1 of the CRADA focused on developing a comprehensive mass-energy balance of OriginOil’s proprietary process.  This helped the company develop its comprehensive productivity model recently presented to the National Algae Association’s Quarterly Forum in Houston, Texas.  INL researchers provided core data on the projected efficiency and recovery values for the various steps involved in the algae-growing process, including lipid and biomass production from algae.

“Algae represent a potential key biomass resource for a sustainable bioenergy industry,” said Tom Ulrich, INL Senior Advisory Scientist.  “Collaboration with OriginOil has been encouraging, especially the modeling of their algae growth and production process.  Phase 2 of the CRADA will focus on further process validation, economic modeling and improved biomass logistics for the scale up of algae biomass production.”

CEO Eckelberry added: “We look forward to continuing our relationship with INL and incorporating their research into our technology development and performance modeling. Through this collaboration we will facilitate the  growth of the entire algae sector, and create a domestic renewable fuel industry that will benefit both the environment and the economy.”

INL and OriginOil are currently negotiating the scope and terms of Phase 2 and 3 of the CRADA.  The deliverables for additional phases will include biological and chemical feedstock evaluation needed for systems integration design and scale-up demonstration.  This work will identify and incorporate minor feeds (such as trace nutrients for algae), recycle streams, intermediate storage, utilities needed, and waste streams.  Equipment sizes and the appropriate number of parallel units will also be determined, resulting in a more robust economic analysis of industrial scale systems.

The company reported the results of Phase 1 as part of the first-ever productivity model for algae production.  The model was well received by industry leaders because of its comprehensive data set, transparent assumptions, and clarity on the commercialization challenge.  OriginOil plans to publish specialized calculators on the company’s website, and will make the detailed model available to researchers.

“The new algae industry needed a comprehensive economic model to ramp up quickly,” said OriginOil CEO Riggs Eckelberry.  “INL has played an integral part in our efforts to quantify the performance of key steps within the OriginOil algae production system.”

Los Angeles, CA September 30, 2009 – OriginOil, Inc. (OOIL), the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum, today announced an innovative production system using a type of algae that attaches itself to growth surfaces. The new system helps pursue clean water goals while generating algae for fuel and other valuable products in wastewater treatment plants.

“Previous attempts at using surface-mounted algae were not very scalable,” said OriginOil CEO Riggs Eckelberry. “OriginOil’s Attached Growth System delivers scalability and throughput in an industrial process that delivers light more efficiently to grow algae for fuel and helps process wastewater at the same time.”

The company recently filed for patent protection of the new Attached Growth System, its tenth patent application, entitled “Methods and Apparatus for Growing Algae on a Solid Surface.” OriginOil will integrate the process into the demonstration algae system now being built at its headquarters.

Growing algae in water is a challenge because as it grows, the algae thickens and stops light. One solution is OriginOil’s Helix Bioreactor™ which puts the lights inside the tank. Another method is to rotate the algae periodically out of the water so it can be exposed to the light. OriginOil’s Attached Growth System uses types of algae that will attach to surfaces rotating in and out of the water, exposing the algae to sunlight or artificial light. At harvest time, the algae is scraped off as a sludge, greatly decreasing the energy cost of dewatering during oil extraction.

In wastewater treatment plants, OriginOil’s Attached Growth System can be configured to encourage bacterial growth in addition to the algae. Combining algal and bacterial growth makes for better nutrient extraction than either one of them alone, contributing to clean water goals while making fuel and absorbing CO2.

OriginOil Chief Scientist and clean water veteran Dr. Vikram Pattarkine said: “We demonstrated in our cost analysis, at the National Algae Association in Houston earlier this month, that algae can be far more profitable when located in wastewater treatment environments. This technology will multiply the benefit.”

CEO Eckelberry added: “We are proud to present this technology while the second Governors’ Global Climate Summit is in progress here in Los Angeles. In addition to being a renewable energy pioneer, California is in the grips of a long-term drought and can clearly use any technology that allies clean water with sustainable fuel production.”

For more information on OriginOil technology, please visit www.originoil.com.

Los Angeles, CA September 22, 2009 – OriginOil, Inc. (OOIL), the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum, announced that the National Algae Association’s (NAA) quarterly conference applauded OriginOil’s presentation of a first-ever comprehensive algae production model, developed with the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) of the Department of Energy under its collaborative research agreement with OriginOil.

CEO Riggs Eckelberry and chief scientist Dr. Vikram Pattarkine took turns outlining the new model in an OriginOil presentation. They used the extensive spreadsheet to illustrate their points interactively.

“We knew that the first company to actually come out and openly document the real productivity picture would face a tough challenge,” said Barry Cohen, executive director of the National Algae Association. “OriginOil did it and now we have the beginning of an industry model.”

Key contributors included the Idaho National Lab (INL) of the Department of Energy, which helped develop the energy and mass balance model as part of its collaborative research agreement with OriginOil; leading multinational oil and fats producer Desmet Ballestra, for capital costs and materials pricing; and principals of Orineo Renewables, for guidance on pricing and value-add product strategy.

At the end of the presentation, CEO Eckelberry outlined plans to share this first-ever interactive model for algae production through a process of publishing various calculators on the company’s website and also making the detailed model available to researchers.

“Imagine what it means for a business planner or researcher to be able to turn to this model and easily adapt it into their requirements,” said Eckelberry. “To encourage contribution by all concerned, an industry group like the NAA should ultimately host the model, and we are in talks to do help them do just that.”

Los Angeles, CA September 2, 2009 – OriginOil, Inc. (OOIL), the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum, has announced that the company’s President and CEO, Riggs Eckelberry, will present the industry’s first-ever comprehensive algae productivity model to industry leaders and fellow members at the National Algae Association’s (NAA) quarterly conference, entitled “Algae: The New Oil,” in Houston on September 18, 2009.

“A good baseline model for productivity of industrialized algae is critical to the billions being invested in the algae segment,” said Eckelberry. “It is our intention to share as much of this as we can to foster collaboration and help quantify industry productivity, raw material requirements including energy, capital requirements and potential ROI.”

OriginOil Chief Scientist Dr. Vikram Pattarkine will join Riggs Eckelberry in making the presentation and will address the science and engineering aspects. He will also speak to the core productivity numbers in the model, which are based on OriginOil’s own extensive laboratory experimentation.

“Our industry is crying out for a good baseline. It doesn’t matter if the numbers are great, but we need a logical place to start,” said Barry Cohen, executive director of the National Algae Association. He added, “We’ve come to expect this kind of courageous thinking from the folks at OriginOil and I can’t wait to see the results!”

OriginOil’s interactive model defines the raw material inputs, quantifies the efficiency of the production and extraction system, and converts the feedstock into various fuels and co-products. It estimates the real estate footprint for an industrial algae operation, capital requirements and operating expenses, and the time required to recapture the initial investment. General elements of the model will be published as a beta release in the weeks to come, encouraging feedback and contribution. The detailed model will be shared with select OriginOil partners.

About the Conference

The conference will be held on September 17-18, 2009 at the Sheraton North Houston in Houston, TX. In support of its recent response to The Department of Energy’s National Algal Biofuels Technology Roadmap, “Algae: The New Oil” will cover a full range of subjects focusing on the commercialization of the algae production industry, including research, growing, harvesting, extraction and by-products, as well as project financing issues and grant-writing techniques. Among those presenting will be industry peers from LiveFuels, Inc., Alfa Laval Group, Phycal and Algaeventure Systems, Inc. For more information or to attend the seminar, visit www.nationalalgaeassociation.com.

Los Angeles, CA August 25, 2009 – OriginOil, Inc. (OOIL), the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform algae, one of most promising sources of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum, recently had the honor of hosting Retired Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn, former Commander of the U.S. Third Fleet in the Pacific Ocean and current member of a blue-ribbon panel of Generals and Admirals, the CNA Military Advisory Board (MAB), at its company headquarters on Friday, August 21.

During the tour, which took place at the OriginOil facility in downtown Los Angeles, Vice Admiral McGinn received a guided walk-through of the company’s breakthrough technology, which is developed to help reduce the United States’ dependence on foreign fuel.  (See photos here.)

Admiral McGinn got a chance to taste algae oil extracted from algae in OriginOil’s Single Step Extraction™ process and commented: “I especially like the wine tasting atmosphere of judging a fine run of algal oil production!”

He continued, “I really like OriginOil’s business model of producing key technical capabilities, with a premium placed on efficiency, less complexity and affordability that will enable just about every scale up of the algal fuel industry.”

“We were honored to welcome Vice Admiral McGinn to our company headquarters,” commented Eckelberry.  “His extensive involvement and commitment in helping to reduce our nation’s carbon footprint has made him widely respected within our industry, and his decision to visit our facility means a lot to us.”

As a member of the MAB, Vice Admiral McGinn, along with eleven other top-ranking Admirals and Generals, recently issued an influential energy report entitled, “Powering America’s Defense: Energy and the Risks to National Security”.  The report finds that America’s energy posture constitutes a serious and urgent threat to national security – militarily, diplomatically and economically.  It warns that continuing business as usual is perilous and recommends immediate action to address the nation’s long-term energy profile.

“Increasing demand for, and dwindling supplies of, fossil fuels will lead to instability. In addition, the effects of global climate change will pose serious threats to water supplies and agricultural production, leading to intense competition for essentials,” said Vice Admiral McGinn.  “The U.S. cannot assume that we will be untouched by these conflicts.  We have to understand how these conflicts could play out, and prepare for them by transforming our energy posture.”

Los Angeles, CA August 20, 2009 – OriginOil, Inc. (OOIL), the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum, was recently featured on PBS Television’s internationally-recognized NOVA scienceNOW as part of an educational segment on how algae, one of the earth’s oldest living organisms, can help reduce the world’s dependence on petroleum.

The show can be viewed by accessing the NOVA scienceNOW Algae Fuel page and clicking on the algae image or by clicking “Play Video” underneath the algae image.

The “From Pond Scum to Power” video segment features commentary by Riggs Eckelberry, OriginOil’s CEO and Founder, on the promise of algae on both a local and international level.  It also provides footage of the company’s patent-pending Helix BioReactor™, representing the closed-system option for algae production. A time lapse of OriginOil’s Single-Step Extraction™ process was also featured.

“We are delighted and honored that PBS and the NOVA team asked OriginOil to participate in this very educational program,” said Riggs Eckelberry. “This opportunity allowed us to share our technology with viewers around the world, and we applaud the NOVA team for helping spread the potential of algae as an alternative to petroleum for everyday life.”

Los Angeles, CA August 13, 2009 – OriginOil, Inc. (OOIL), the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum, today reported that it led a consortium of industry leaders in a recently submitted application for a grant under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The consortium includes the Idaho National Laboratory of the Department of Energy (DOE), two top US universities, and materials technology firm Media & Process Technology.

Known as Funding Opportunity DE-FOA-0000015, the grant is for “Carbon Capture and Sequestration from Industrial Sources and Innovative Concepts for Beneficial CO2 Use”. The purpose of the DOE-managed grant is to increase funding for demonstration systems in carbon capture and sequestration from industrial sources and innovative concepts for beneficial CO2 use.  The OriginOil-led proposal falls under Technology Area 2 – Innovative Concepts for CO2 Use – by using algae to absorb CO2 and produce biofuels.  Total funding under this technology area is expected to exceed $100 million, split between an estimated 4 to 8 awardees.

The consortium has proposed a total budget of just over $1 million for Phase 1 of the project. This phase will encompass work from project definition activities through preliminary design and permitting and is expected to last for seven months, beginning on October 1, 2009.  Phase 2 will cover design, construction and operation of a pilot demonstration facility.  The overall period of performance for both phases is expected to last for 48 months.

The Funding Opportunity requires applicants to provide 20% in matching funds.  OriginOil has successfully applied for up to $300,000 in matching funds from the Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Program of the California Energy Commission under PON-08-011.

“This grant is well designed for the early stage of the algae industry and will advance the industry tremendously,” said Riggs Eckelberry, OriginOil CEO. “We greatly appreciate the support of a government laboratory and leading academic institutions in making this application.”

About the Funding Opportunity

(DE-FOA-0000015) Recovery Act: Carbon Capture and Sequestration from Industrial Sources and Innovative Concepts for Beneficial CO2 is a cost-shared collaboration between the Government and industry to increase investment in clean industrial technologies and sequestration projects. In accordance with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and Section 703 of Public Law 110-140, for this Funding Opportunity Announcement, DOE’s two specific objectives, identified as Technology Areas, are to demonstrate: (1) Large-scale industrial CCS projects from industrial sources and (2) Innovative concepts for beneficial CO2 use. The Applicants shall clearly identify the technology area under which the application is being submitted. Link for more information: Click here.