Company Name LiveFuels	Company Web Site http://www.livefuels.com/	Headquarters Menlo Park, CA
Latest News August 16, 2008 Despite its promise, it will be years before algae biofuel could be sold at a price that would make sense to an airline, said Dave Jones, co-founder of LiveFuels, an algae fuel startup in San Carlos, Calif. "If anyone is below $50 a gallon, I'd be stunned," he said. ---------------------- February, 2007 The cheapest way to grow algae is in open ponds. But open ponds full of nutrients invite other species to take over, competing with the algae and cutting down production. LiveFuels, which is funding and coordinating research at its own lab and at those at both Sandia and the NREL, hopes to create algal ecosystems that resist such invaders by ensuring that all the nutrients are converted to forms the algae can easily use, says David Kingsbury, the chair of the company's scientific advisory board.
Funding LiveFuels received $10 million in a first round of funding led by David Gelbaum of the Quercus Trust, which donates to conservation advocacy and environmental organizations. The company says its goal is to cost-effectively produce large amounts of oil derived from algae. In 2006, the company established a research alliance with Sandia National Laboratory to focus on producing biocrude oil by the year 2010.
Technology No additional technology information.
Other Info LiveFuels Incorporated develops algae-based biofuel production technologies. The firm has formed research alliances with Sandia National Laboratories and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, both U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) units. Sandia National Laboratories is focusing on growing several strains of high-fat algae for the company. LiveFuels will grow algae on non-farm land. The algae can thrive in fresh or brackish water. Oil generated by algae will be used to produce biofuels. Algae can yield 1,000 to 20,000 gallons of oil per acre. LiveFuels has determined that 20 to 40 million acres of marginal land could be used to produce algae-based biofuels. The produced biofuels would allow the United States' to end all consumption of foreign crude oil. The firm plans to start bio-crude production operations by 2010. LiveFuels was launched by Lissa Morgenthaler-Jones, who previously co-founded Murenove Incorporated.