The U.S. Department of Energy's Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), in partnership with the Algae Foundation and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), announced 15 student teams advancing as finalists in the AlgaePrize 2023-2025 Competition! 

 

 

Each finalist team receives $10,000 to conduct their proposed research over the next approximately 15 months. Teams will then present their project results to a panel of judges during the AlgaePrize Competition Weekend, April 11–13, 2025, at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. 

This year’s competition is part of DOE’s American-Made Challenges, which represents a series of unique prize competitions designed to incentivize and reenergize American innovation in the energy marketplace.

 See below for the AlgaePrize finalist team names, locations, and brief descriptions of their proposed projects:

• AlgaeNano+, San Juan, Puerto Rico: Developing carbon nanomaterials from macroalgae for use in high-demand industries like battery manufacturing, energy, and environmental remediation. 
• AlgaeUnlocked, Carbondale, Illinois: Exploring a low-energy, cost-effective, and efficient process for preparing microalgae for conversion into biostimulants and biofuels. 
• Algators, Livingston, New Jersey: Investigating algal biomass as an alternative nonsynthetic fertilizer for a local farm. 
• Aloha Limu, Hilo, Hawaii: Studying vertical seaweed cultivation methods to diversify and scale up production of native Hawaiian macroalgal species. 
• BlazerBloom, Frederick, Maryland: Using bioflocculation with magnetotactic bacteria to harvest and dewater microalgae for conversion into biofuels production. 
• Blue Genes, Fairfield, California: Creating an algae-derived dye with a focus on process optimization, improving output, and as a method to teach the community about algal products. 
• Clean Green Feed, Storrs, Connecticut: Producing a sustainable strain of microalgae high in methionine for use in chicken feeds. 
• Green Skies, Minneapolis, Minnesota: Applying machine-learning techniques to analyze land suitability, water stress, and economic factors to identify the best sites for Midwest microalgae growth. 
• Green Thumbs, Golden, Colorado: Working to improve the harvestability of saltwater microalgae by using a novel pH-mediated-electroflocculation method
• JCCC Chlorella Cavaliers, Overland Park, Kansas: Developing a novel strain of Chlorella expressing plastic degrading enzymes to improve water quality in ecosystems. 
• Just AD Algae, Santa Fe, New Mexico: Preparing a scalable system to codigest microalgae with organic lipid waste resulting in decreased biogas production lag and increased biogas yield. 
• KelBerry, Storrs, Connecticut: Employing sugar kelp alginate as an edible food coating to extend strawberry shelf life. 
• Parachlorella Plastic Pals, La Jolla, California: Creating algae-based, biodegradable thermoplastic polyurethanes. 
• Team ASAP, Camas, Washington; Los Angeles and Irvine, California: Developing an efficient and scalable process for the industrialization of sporophyte generation. 
• The Algenius Thinkers, Austin, Texas: Studying the production of long-chain fatty acids from algae into short-chain fatty acids for lower biofuel production costs.  

 Share this inspirational AlgaePrize video with your network and social media connections!

Visit our official AlgaePrize 2023-2025 Competition site to learn more about our finalists and stay informed about project updates.

LEARN ABOUT THE ALGAEPRIZE 2023-2025 COMPETITION FINALISTS!