Bio Architecture Lab Technology Partners With Xunshan Group to Develop Integrated Bio-Refinery for Fuels, Chemicals & Co-Products From Brown Seaweed

BERKELEY, CA--(Marketwire - Oct 30, 2012) - Bio Architecture Lab (Bal), a biotechnology company whose conversion technology and seaweed bio-refinery design unlocks the full value of seaweed, has entered into an agreement with China's Xunshan Group, the world's largest grower of brown seaweed and a global ocean fishery and aquaculture company. Under terms of the agreement, the companies will develop an integrated seaweed bio-refinery to produce a low cost carbohydrate for the production of renewable chemicals, fuels, animal feed and a variety of other high value products using Xunshan's seaweed and Bal's conversion technology.

"Partnering with the Xunshan Group is a critical step to accelerate our path to commercialization," said Daniel Trunfio, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Bio Architecture Lab. "This agreement allows us to focus on our core strength -- proprietary and patented technology -- while leveraging the expertise and global reach of the Xunshan Group. Together, we will develop international markets for the production of renewable fuels, chemicals and other high value products using our low-cost carbohydrate derived from brown seaweed."

The Xunshan Group is a premier Chinese aquaculture company and the largest producer of brown seaweed in the world. Xunshan engages in the extraction of bio-products, such as alginate, sodium alginate, iodine, mannitol, fucoidan, and seaweed fertilizers from seaweed. The company is also a leader in the research, development, production, and sale of animal pharmaceutical products and animal feed.

"Bio Architecture Lab's technology opens new markets for seaweed production, and will help enable Xunshan to increase our production and expand our business globally," said Li Changqing, Chairman of the Xunshan Group. "Bal is the world leader in seaweed based conversion technology and we are excited about our partnership. We look forward to creating new opportunities for both companies that will ultimately create new markets and economic opportunity through sustainable chemicals, fuels, feed and other high value products." 

Coupled with Bal's technology, seaweed is an ideal global low cost feedstock for the commercial production of renewable chemicals and fuels. In addition, to its vast abundance, seaweed does not require arable land or freshwater to grow, and is environmentally friendly. Bal and Xunshan are currently conducting feasibility analyses of sites for both the integrated bio-refinery and a dedicated seaweed farm along the coast of Shandong Province.

"The Xunshan Group is the world's leader in seaweed production and we are very excited about the opportunity to partner with them," said Trunfio. 

About Bio Architecture Lab
Founded in 2008, Bio Architecture Lab is a privately held company headquartered in Berkeley, California with an office in Puerto Varas, Chile. BAL is focused on enabling the production of the world's lowest cost, most scalable, and sustainable source of sugars from native, farmed seaweed for biofuels and renewable chemicals production. Company investors include Aurus Bios, Austral Capital, Statoil Venture and X/Seed Capital. The company has also received funding from the U.S. Department of Energy's ARPA-E program through a sub-contract with DuPont and has been awarded funding from InnovaChile CORFO, the Chilean Economic Development Agency in partnership with the Universidad de Los Lagos. The company has a strategic partnership with Statoil, the Norwegian Oil and Gas Company. More information is available via the web at www.ba-lab.com.

About Xunshan Group Co., Ltd.
Located in the most eastern part of Rongcheng City, a port city in a highly-developed area of east Shandong peninsula, Xunshan Group Co., Ltd. engages in ocean fishery and sea-farming development. With the expansive ocean, clean water and 23 kilometers of coastline, it is advantageously situated for the development aquaculture and shipping. The Xunshan Group is a large scale town-based enterprise specialized in ocean fishery and sea-farming development and it is one of the first National Hi-tech R&D industrial bases. It has 3000 staff, 1.2 billion RMB total assets, 1200 m2 land area and unspecified cultivable sea area. Its businesses include sea seedling and breeding, seafood processing, algae bio-extraction, port transportation, real estate development, drinks and spirits industry, and others. Its businesses span more than 10 industries and the group includes more than 30 subsidiaries, among which two have been confirmed as high technology enterprises of Shandong Province. More information is available via the web at www.xunshangroup.com