Texas Governor Rick Perry, City of Laredo Officials and Terrabon Kick-Off Groundbreaking Water Treatment Project
LAREDO, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Terrabon, Inc., today joined Texas Governor Rick Perry and City of Laredo officials at an event held in Laredo City Hall to announce the benefits of a groundbreaking water treatment project that will purify 50,000 gallons per day of brackish water for potable use in Laredo’s water supply system. Governor Perry also awarded $2.75 million from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (TETF) to Terrabon for its innovative work in biofuel technology development.
“The development of this pilot project is one step in securing and providing water in the future, not only for Laredo, but for the entire state of Texas”
“As our population grows by about 1,000 people a day, we must take steps to ensure our energy supply keeps up with increasing demand,” Governor Perry said. “Now is the time to tackle that challenge, and we’re using the Texas Emerging Technology Fund and this investment in Terrabon’s biofuels technology as a key tool in that effort.”
Laredo Water Treatment Project
The city’s Santa Isabel Water Treatment Plant will utilize Terrabon’s AdVE technology developed in partnership with Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), a member of the Texas A&M University System. The AdVE process will remove impurities using advanced vapor compression evaporation to produce drinkable water for Laredo. Further, the project will demonstrate the commercial viability of the desalination technology that also reduces the capital and operating costs of water purification. The pilot plant is being designed in cooperation with American Water's Applied Management Group, which also will provide operating support.
“The development of this pilot project is one step in securing and providing water in the future, not only for Laredo, but for the entire state of Texas,” said Laredo City Council Member Gene Belmares.
Texas Emerging Technology Fund Award
Turning trash into treasure, Terrabon also has successfully produced high-octane “green” gasoline made from non-food biomass at its demonstration facility in Bryan, Texas. Developed again in partnership with TEES, Terrabon’s MixAlco™ is an advanced bio-refining technology that converts low-cost, readily available, non-food, non-sterile biomass into valuable chemicals such as acetic acid, ketones and alcohols that can be processed into renewable gasoline fuels. The biomass used as feedstock includes municipal solid waste (MSW), sewage sludge, forest product residues such as wood chips, wood molasses and other wood waste, and non-edible energy crops such as sweet sorghum. The process is very robust and requires no sterility, which significantly lowers capital costs.
Terrabon holds the exclusive worldwide license from the Texas A&M System for this technology. After it has built the first few commercial plants, the company intends to license and joint venture this technology with industrial partners and others who play a major role in biomass collection or in transportation. Waste Management (NYSE: WM) and Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) are also key investors in Terrabon's efforts to help deploy the company's technologies on a commercial scale.
Terrabon plans to use the TETF investment to: conduct testing to optimize certain processes included in its biofuel technology; expand its joint research arrangement with the Texas A&M System; and extend the build-out of its demonstration facility in Bryan in order to facilitate processing of MSW and other feed stocks into “green” gasoline and other biofuels.
“We are proud to be part of Laredo’s efforts to apply new, innovative technologies that now offer the city a viable option for a future secondary water source. This water treatment project and the investment by the Texas Emerging Technology Fund will play an integral role both in confirming the potential of our technologies and in expediting our plans for commercial deployment,” said Terrabon CEO Gary Luce.
About Terrabon
Terrabon, Inc. was formed in 1995 to commercialize three technologies developed by the Texas Engineering Experiment Station, a member of the Texas A&M University System. Terrabon plans to deploy these cutting-edge technologies through licensing and joint venture arrangements. Its MixAlco™ technology converts biomass to green gasoline. AdVe is a water desalination process that utilizes advanced vapor-compression evaporation to desalinate salt water into potable water. SoluPro is a bio-products process that converts inexpensive protein-bearing waste material into animal feed and "green" commercial adhesives. These technologies are exclusively licensed to Terrabon by the Texas A&M University System through its Office of Technology Commercialization. Please visit Terrabon’s website at www.terrabon.com.
About TEES
The Texas Engineering Experiment Station is a member of The Texas A&M University System with a mission to identify and conduct research in areas critical to the state's economic development and quality of life, promote new technology and entrepreneurship, leverage and network human, physical, and financial resources and enhance and strengthen education in Texas. The Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) and The Center for Applied Technology (TCAT), a center within TEES, are the technology integrator and analyst for this project.
About the Texas Emerging Technology Fund
The Texas Emerging Technology Fund was created during the 79th Texas Legislative Session as a tool to develop and diversify the Texas economy by expediting innovation and commercialization of research. Allocations from the fund support the creation of high-quality jobs, address priorities in emerging technology fields and leverage private investment for activities that will strengthen the economic future of Texas. For more information on the TETF, visit http://www.emergingtechfund.com.
