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Posts Tagged ‘brownsville’

LiveFuels, Inc. hopes to make a renewable fuel using processed algae-fed fish. The company–who develops renewable algae-based biofuels–has a test facility in Brownsville, TX. At the location they have 45 acres of open saltwater ponds which will be used for optimizing the algal production. Most algae-to-biofuel companies are limited to monomcultures of algae, but LiveFuels plans to grow a mix of regional species in low-cost, open-water systems. The algae will be “harvested” with filter-feeding fish and other aquatic herbivores. Read more of this story »

LiveFuels, Inc., a developer of renewable algae-based biofuels, started pilot operations at the company’s test facility in Brownsville, TX. Consisting of 45 acres of open saltwater ponds, the facility will be used for research on optimizing algal productivity and increasing the rates of conversion of biomass into renewable oils. While many algae-to-biofuels companies grow monocultures of algae within expensive enclosures, LiveFuels grows a mix of native algae species in low-cost, open-water systems. To harvest the algae, LiveFuels uses a proprietary mixture of oil-rich “algae grazers,” such as filter-feeding fish species and a variety of other aquatic herbivores, in place of expensive and energy-intensive mechanical equipment. These species are then collected and processed into renewable oils and many other valuable co-products. Current approaches to generating algal-biofuels are resource intensive and face fundamental science and engineering hurdles. LiveFuels’ approach is ingenious in its simplicity. By turning natural food chains into productive systems, LiveFuels eliminates many of the costs and risks plaguing other approaches to using algae for biofuels. —David Kingsbury, former chief program officer for the Science Program of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and chairman of the LiveFuels scientific advisory board To date, LiveFuels has filed ten US patents for its proprietary approach to growing and harvesting algal biomass. At the Brownsville facility, LiveFuels will conduct research on optimizing the productivity of natural aquatic ecosystems through biological and environmental conditions. The results will be used for an expansion to full-scale commercial operations along the coast of Louisiana. The commercial facilities will be designed to harness flows of agricultural pollution from the Mississippi River that can be used as nutrients for generating algal blooms. By removing these nutrients from river flows, LiveFuels’ systems also mitigate the impacts of agricultural pollution in the open ocean.