Why is algae good for the planet?

Algae sequesters carbon dioxide naturally through photosynthesis, like most plants. However, algae can consume even more carbon dioxide than trees because it’s capable of covering a larger surface area – growing faster and being more easily controlled by bioreactors due to its size. 

What is Algae Black™?

Algae Black™ pigment offers a sustainable drop-in replacement that reduces carbon emissions by 200% compared to traditional, petroleum-derived alternatives like conventional carbon black.  

Algae Black™ pigment sequesters more carbon than it emits during production, making it a carbon-negative product and counteracting CO2 emitted from carbon black. The pigment is made from US farm-grown and renewable algae biomass that only requires sunlight, CO2 and water to grow – meaning all products are safe and PAH-free. 

Living Ink collects algae biomass waste that is left over from nutritional supplement production and stops it from entering landfills where it would emit greenhouse gases. Empowering companies to replace carbon black materials derived from petroleum in their supply chains, Living Ink offers a plant-based and carbon-negative alternative created in a carbon-negative production process.  

How is Algae Black™ pigment made? 

Today, Living Ink turns biomass waste into value and is globally recognised as a leading provider of carbon-negative pigments and bio-based inks, helping companies incorporate sustainable materials into their supply chains. 

Through a proprietary process, leftover algae from farms is repurposed into a powder or suspended liquid dispersion form. Algae Black™ pigment is used to safely colour a variety of industrial products such as plastics, rubbers, foams, cosmetics, textiles and inks, such as their Algae Ink™ for textiles, to achieve a black or desired shade.  

Why use algae biomass waste? 

Algae is one of the most productive and prolific plants on earth. Grown using sunlight as power and CO2 as building blocks, algae naturally sequesters CO2 from the atmosphere and creates massive amounts of oxygen; over half the oxygen we breathe comes from oceanic algae. Growing algae requires minimal land and less water usage compared to traditional crops, ensuring zero contribution to deforestation or the displacement of land and other resources for food production. 

Living Ink specifically uses algae waste from farms to provide a responsible waste disposal solution for their partners who are already cultivating algae for other purposes like wastewater treatment or the production of dietary supplements. 

Who launched Living Ink? 

While studying algae in the Molecular Biology PhD Program at Colorado State University Scott Fulbright and Stevane Albers, the innovators behind Living Ink, realised they shared the same values and vision: to change the world using biology and make materials more sustainable. 

In 2013, Fulbright bought a greeting card which led him to begin questioning the presence of petroleum in printing inks. Curiosity sparked insight and the two soon realised that the algae they studied could replace the harmful fossil fuels commonly used in pigments and inks. 

Fulbright and Albers collaborated to launch Algae Black™ – a bio-based, carbon-negative black pigment and dispersion made from renewable algae waste sources.