KAILUA-KONA » A Big Island company aims to harvest oil from algae on a commercial scale as an alternative to drilling for petroleum.

"Through this we can provide a solution to a lot of the world’s problems," said Gabriel de Scheemaker, CEO of Cellana, a joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell and HR BioPetroleum.

Cellana has been testing how to get the most oil from algae at the lowest cost since it was founded in 2007.

To grow algae, researchers put a small amount of algae in sea water and expose it to the sun, some nutrients and carbon dioxide. The dense algal growth is moved to a larger growing container and then open ponds. The oil-heavy algae sinks to the bottom of the ponds, and researchers remove water and extract oil from the algae.

This process could be done on a larger scale to create biofuel, but it would be expensive.

"A lot of the work is reducing the cost," said de Scheemaker.

Cellana researchers are trying smarter designs to reduce the expense. They are also attempting to increase their yields, or the amount of algae they are able to get per square meter per day, to cut costs.

The project is attracting significant financial support. The U.S. Department of Energy recently awarded Cellana $9 million to continue its research.

The company also might be able to get revenue from a byproduct of the process, as the protein and carbohydrates left after oil is extracted could be turned into fish meal or other animal feed.

The company plans to test different algal strains to see which would provide the best oil for biofuel.

The algae currently being grown on the site is all native to Hawaii, said Cellana Operations Manager Avery Kramer, but the company might bring in other algal strains with agriculture department approval.

The joint venture was formed after Shell saw a research article HR BioPetroleum’s chief science officer published about the potential of obtaining oil from algae, Kramer said.

HR BioPetroleum offers expertise growing algae to the joint venture, while Shell brings experience extracting oil.

Cellana’s pilot facility at the Natural Energy Laboratory in Kailua-Kona now employs 60 people, half of whom are from Hawaii.

West Hawaii, with abundant sunlight, consistent weather and a reputation as a major algae farming hub, was a logical place for testing algae-growing and harvesting techniques, de Scheemaker said.

The company takes its name from the genus to which opihi, a small limpet native to Hawaii, belongs.