OriginOil Inc., an L.A. company that extracts oil from algae, is working to develop biofuels for the military as the government tries to reduce its reliance on petroleum fuels.

The company will work with the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls to develop standard methods for turning algae into biocrude, a type of oil that, like regular crude, can be refined into jet fuel, kerosene and other fuels, under an agreement announced in December.

At present, there are several ways to turn algae, wood waste and other biofuels into biocrude. Standardizing the processes will let producers churn out identical product for use by refiners.

“Refineries want to receive things that are intermixable. A tanker truck coming from a (wood) pulp mill will have identical stuff as a tanker coming from an algae farm,” said OriginOil Chief Executive Riggs Eckelberry.

OriginOil scientists will work to develop algae standards with the laboratory, while other firms will help develop standards for biocrude from other sources.

All those standards, Eckelberry said, should make it possible to build large-scale refineries to turn algae and other products into biofuels, which is why OriginOil last month also entered into a second military venture to develop such refineries.

The joint venture, with Everett, Wash., engineering firm Energime Inc., will perform studies on the feasibility of building large-scale biorefineries for the Department of Defense. OriginOil will help fund part of the studies and bring its proprietary algae technology to the venture, while Energime is pledging to invest at least $4.5 million.

If those studies go well, Eckelberry said they could be the first step in getting federal funding to build the refineries. The Navy, and the departments of Defense and Agriculture in August announced a plan to reduce the military’s dependence on imported oil by investing $510 million in biofuel production over the next three years.

Founded in 2007, OriginOil had revenue of $142,500 for the first nine months of 2011, but has never posted a profit. Most of the company’s capital has come from issuing stock. Shares, which trade over the counter, closed at $1.83 on Dec. 28, down from as high as $8.10 in the previous 12 months.

Airship Crash

Montebello blimp maker Aeros got a boost last month when the National Transportation Safety Board determined a 2001 blimp crash in Oakland wasn’t the fault of a design flaw, according to the company.

Pilots for now-defunct blimp advertising company Airship USA Inc. were flying an Aeros blimp near the Oakland International Airport in January 2001. While coming in to land, the nose of the blimp dropped several times because valves that adjust the flow of helium in the front and rear compartments of the craft did not respond to controls.

The pilots had to crash-land the blimp and bail out. The blimp then took off and floated pilotless for four miles before crashing into a marina and restaurant.

An NTSB report in 2005 found the pilots and an equipment malfunction were partly to blame, but a design flaw made the situation worse. Specifically, the agency said the location of the blimp’s front helium compartment made it more difficult to control the blimp when the front and rear compartments had unequal amounts of gas.

Aeros said there was no design flaw and fought the ruling from the beginning. Last month, the company issued a press release saying the NTSB had agreed to amend its report and say there was no design flaw. The company called it “a moral victory.”

NTSB officials could not immediately confirm the report had been changed.

World Traveler

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. in Pasadena ended the year by announcing a slew of new contracts that show off the firm’s worldwide presence and broad portfolio.

Perhaps no two contracts better show that range than two announced Dec. 13: one to provide engineering and technical assistance services for a carbon-capturing plant at an oil refinery in Lindas, Norway, the other to provide project management services for the construction of a shopping mall in Abu Dhabi.

Other contracts announced last month include a deal to design and make sulfuric acid coolers for a chemical plant in Pirdop, Bulgaria, one to provide engineering services for the expansion of a Honeywell International Inc. refrigerant manufacturing plant in Baton Rouge, La., and a $42.4 million deal to provide engineering and acquisition services for the Marine Corps’ information technology branch.

The values of other deals were not disclosed.

Staff reporter James Rufus Koren can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 225.