Biotech company considering Leander for testing facility

Biotech company considering Leander for testing facility

By Robert Bell Monday, 24 August 2009

Leander City Council members heard a presentation Aug. 20 from a biotech company that is considering the city as the site for its first major testing facility.

Joule Biotechnologies — based in Cambridge, Mass. — has developed technology that uses a combination of sunlight, CO2, non-fresh water, nutrients and photosynthetic organisms to create biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel, said William Sims, president and CEO.

The company’s process creates biofuels without compromising agricultural land or depleting food sources, Sims said.

The company is considering five locations for the testing facility, one of which is Leander.

Council members approved a letter of support for Joule to develop the facility in the city. The company already has a laboratory in San Marcos, and was attracted to Leander because of its proximity to Austin and plentiful sunlight, Sims said.

If the company chooses Leander for the site, construction could begin in the first quarter of 2010.

“This is not an output facility, it’s an extended outdoor lab,” Sims said, adding that the facility would be odorless and mostly unmanned.