CEO envisions a Gulf Coast algae boom

Houston Chronicle
By BRETT CLANTON Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Aug. 8, 2009, 1:35AM

When Paul Woods looks at the Texas Gulf Coast, with its heavy industry, large tracts of flat land and muddy salt water, he thinks two words: algae farms.

In his vision, these farms would span hundreds of acres each, heading south from Freeport. On them would be long, clear plastic tubes filled with salt water and algae. And when pumped with carbon dioxide from nearby oil refineries and chemical plants, they would yield a valuable crop: ethanol.

“I really see Texas as just an ideal location,” said Woods, the CEO of Algenol Biofuels, a company in Bonita Springs, Fla.

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