LiveFuels Hopes its Algae Biofuel Ready for Launch by 2010

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LiveFuels CEO Lissa Morgenthaler-Jones describes her San Carlos, Calif.-based company’s process as 'we cook them and squeeze them' for turning algae-fed fish into oil for fuel using heat and high pressure. It’s a gruesome way of harvesting pond scum than the mechanical equipment employed by other startups working on algal fuels, but it might be cheaper.

According to a spokesman for LiveFuels, which was founded in 2006 and announced the kickoff of pilot operations at a 45-acre open pond test facility in Brownsville, Texas, this week.

Some investors think LiveFuels has a good shot at making the technology and economics work. The company raised $10 million in May 2007 from David Gelbaum’s quiet Quercus Trust. At the time, LiveFuels reportedly hoped to have its biofuel ready for launch by 2010. NYT’s Green Inc. reports that the company is still trying to bring down costs, and will spend what’s left of that $10 million on additional research and development. 

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