Sunrise Ridge Algae

 

Welcome to Sunrise Ridge Algae, Inc.

We are a private Texas corporation engaged in research, development and commercialization of algae biomass technology for reduction of water and greenhouse gas pollutants and production of renewable fuel feed stocks and animal feeds.

Sunrise Ridge sponsors research in several areas with the University of Texas at Austin, and owns and operates a pilot production facility at the Austin Water Utility's Hornsby Bend plant in Austin, Texas.


Recent News

November 2008

CEO Norman Whitton participated in the Austin Cleantex Forum as a panelist, and made a presentation regarding algae commercialization.  A similar presentation was also delivered to a group of University of Texas engineering students.

October 2008

The Austin, Texas American Statesman covered developments in Central Texas algae, with a wide-ranging article that interviewed several University of Texas researchers, staff at Sunrise Ridge Algae, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.   Check out their coverage here. 

Norm Whitton and Dr. Jerry Brand describe their efforts to develop an algae-to-biofuels business in Austin.  A video prepared by the Austin American Statesman, here.

The Company was awarded $250,000 from the State of Texas Emerging Technology Fund.  Under the terms of the award, the State of Texas will become a strategic investor in the Company.  Read a detailed press release here.  

The Company and the City of Austin's Water Utility extended the duration of the agreement governing the operation of the Algae Test Farm pilot for an additional 18 months.  The time will allow Sunrise Ridge Algae to conduct further optimization and scale-up testing of its algae production process.

September 2008

Sunrise Ridge Algae was selected to present its business plan at the prestigious Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship.  View the presentation here.

The Company conducted a successful lab-scale test of its "dry" product separation process.

August 2008

Sunrise Ridge Algae Inc was formally accepted as a Client of the Houston Technology Center, an incubator for high-tech startups.  

May/June/July 2008

Sunrise Ridge Algae achieved targeted wastewater pollutant reductions and achieved intermediate level targets for algae production.   Additional growth protocol optimization is under way to increase yields. 

March 2008

CEO Norman Whitton was interviewed by Russ Capper, host for the Business Makers radio show.  The interview discussed the role of algae in renewable energy, some challenges to successful algae-to-oil production and the status of the Company's plans.  Listen to the interview here.

Sunrise Ridge Algae's CEO Norman Whitton made a presentation to potential investors at the Houston Technology Center's March 2008 conference for Energy Technology and Venture Capital.   Dave Griffith, EVP Ventures & Licensing, provided details at the Company's booth at the convention.


Our Mission

To develop and commercialize algae production systems that are economically successful at commodity scale.  

We are targeting large potential markets, including bio-diesel and ethanol feed stocks, animal feed supplements, waste water cleanup (nitrogen, phosphorus) and greenhouse gas emission reduction.  Our strategy is to focus on production system scaling and cost issues while harnessing the superior productivity and yields of select algae strains.


Company Profile

Research Activities

Sunrise Ridge focuses its research activities in four major areas:

  • Obtaining algae species with attractive growth and yield characteristics
  • Reducing the capital and operating costs of algae greenhouse facilities
  • Optimizing growth and harvesting protocols to increase value of commodity products
  • Reducing the capital and operating costs of algae concentration and separation

The Company has collaborated extensively with the world-class capabilities of various departments of the University of Texas at Austin since 2006, and continues to sponsor research there.

Pilot Plant Operations

Sunrise Ridge and the City of Austin, Texas agreed in May 2007 to collaborate in the installation of an algae test production facility at the City of Austin's Hornsby Bend Biosolids Management Plant.  Sunrise Ridge will fund and operate the facility, and will demonstrate its proprietary patent pending greenhouse technology.  The City provides space, utilities and feed stocks, including waste water and carbon dioxide.

The pilot plant facility was physically completed in November 2007. 

The Company started up the facility in 1Q2008.  We continue to adjust the plant equipment as required to meet our design objectives.  We are also assessing reaction and growth rates in various component processes.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Principals

Mr. Norman Whitton is the CEO of Sunrise Ridge Algae Inc.    His 26 year career includes more than a decade of experience in the downstream petroleum and chemical industry while at Conoco Inc. and EI Du Pont, followed by more than a decade of experience at management consultancy Arthur D. Little, where he led the Energy Industry practice in Asia.  In recent years, Mr. Whitton has collaborated with a major Malaysian investor to develop startups in bitumen refining, oil and gas production, and palm-based biofuels.  Mr. Whitton's extensive experience in strategy and operations in the oil industry has provided unique insights for  research in key elements required for commercial production of commodity fuels.

 

Dr. Robert Weber is the Chief Technology Officer of Sunrise Ridge Algae Inc. Previously, Dr. Weber was a director at TIAX LLC, before which he was a principal at Arthur D. Little, Inc. and a member of the chemical engineering faculties at the University of Delaware and at Yale University. At Yale he also served for two years as the Associate Dean for Natural Sciences of the Graduate School.  Dr. Weber received a BA from Cornell University and a PhD from Stanford University.

 

Dr. Jerry Brand is Technical Advisor to Sunrise Ridge Algae Inc.  His 32 year career includes extensive research into photosynthesis, culturing and characterization of algae.  Currently, Dr. Brand is Director of the UTEX algae culture collection at the University of Texas at Austin.  The collection is one of the largest in the world, with more than 3,000 species under continuous cultivation or cryo-preserved.  

Dr. Brand supervises ongoing research sponsored by Sunrise Ridge for algae species selection in his laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin.

 

Mr. David Griffith is EVP, Ventures and Licensing, for Sunrise Ridge Algae Inc.  In his 35 year career at ConocoPhillips, Mr. Griffith was responsible for major project development and negotiation.  He concluded landmark project deals, including the world's first major petroleum coke to electricity venture; one of the major Orinoco tar upgrader projects in Venezuela; and a 400,000 bpd joint venture refinery in Saudi Arabia.  Mr. Griffith also managed Conoco Inc.'s technology licensing program, and was responsible for marketing the company's gasification technology suite.


Contact Information

Please click here to contact us.

 


Copyright © 2007,2008 Sunrise Ridge Holdings Inc.
Last modified: December 07, 2008