Kona’s Cellana and Living Ink Join in Development of Algae Inks

Cellana’s Kona Demonstration Facility, a 6-acre, state-of-the-art production and research facility in Hawaiʻi.

Kona-based Cellana, Inc., a developer of algae-based products for sustainable nutrition and energy applications is joining forces with Living Ink Technologies to develop inks containing Cellana’s renewable algae biomass.

Living Ink’s sustainable algae-derived ink is 100% plant-based, renewable and biodegradable. The majority of the ink is algae, turned into ink, and applied to paper. Company representatives say the novel ink is designed to replace conventional ink that uses petroleum products and other finite chemicals.

Currently, Cellana produces industrial-scale quantities of ReNew™ Algae — high-value algae biomass rich in Omega-3 nutritional oils, proteins, pigments, fuel-grade oils, cosmetic-grade oils, acids and polysaccharides, as well as other valuable micronutrients — at its 6-acre Kona Demonstration Facility on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi.

Cellana will supply Living Ink with whole algae biomass from its Kona Demonstration Facility, and Living Ink will formulate inks and be the route to market. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“Living Ink has a unique position to use algae in a high-value application, making use of the inherent sustainability of our Hawaiʻi-produced material,” said Martin Sabarsky, Cellana’s chief executive officer. “This innovative use of algae to replace traditional, petroleum-based and often toxic ink components is a win-win-win for the ink and algae biomass industries, consumers and the environment,” said Sabarsky.

“Cellana is a leader in growing diverse algae outdoors using sunlight, seawater and CO2, and we are excited to find a commercial source of sustainably grown algae to fuel the expansion of our company and industry,” stated Scott Fulbright, Ph.D., co-founder and chief executive officer of Living Ink. “This new commercial relationship will help accelerate Living Ink’s product development and business development initiatives to produce and sell a range of different renewable inks and print products containing renewable ink,” said Fulbright.