{"id":4451,"date":"2017-05-11T07:41:25","date_gmt":"2017-05-11T07:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/?p=4451"},"modified":"2017-05-12T13:32:48","modified_gmt":"2017-05-12T13:32:48","slug":"53-game-changers-brendan-higgins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/?p=4451","title":{"rendered":"53 Game-changers: Brendan Higgins"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2017\/05\/brendan-higgins-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4663\" src=\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2017\/05\/brendan-higgins-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1021\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2017\/05\/brendan-higgins-1.jpg 1021w, https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2017\/05\/brendan-higgins-1-300x185.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2017\/05\/brendan-higgins-1-768x474.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1021px) 100vw, 1021px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Have you ever looked at algae growing in a pond and wondered if it can fuel your car?<\/p>\n<p>Probably not. But this is a serious question for Brendan Higgins, assistant professor of biosystems engineering.<\/p>\n<p>Higgins is part of Auburn University\u2019s team of researchers studying scalable energy conversion science and technology.<\/p>\n<p>He joined the university in 2016 after completing his doctorate and a postdoctoral research position in biological systems engineering at the University of California, Davis. His work there focused on algal-bacterial systems, microbial community and bio-encapsulation.<br \/>\nHis research focuses broadly on biofuels production, but more specifically he is interested in how processes involving algae and bacteria can be used for remediating waste, producing biofuels and synthesizing high-value products.<\/p>\n<div class=\"video-container\"style=\"margin-bottom:15px;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NEO5iLHv_SU\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>From a cost perspective, algal biofuels simply can\u2019t compete with oil and natural gas in today\u2019s energy market.<\/p>\n<p>However, Higgins and his colleagues at the Forest Products Laboratory are trying to find other sources of value that can help make this source of bioenergy more cost effective.<br \/>\nFor instance, can these algal processes do something else positive, such as cleaning water, while also producing energy?<\/p>\n<p>Higgins is hoping the answer to that question is \u201cyes,\u201d which could drastically alter what types of energy are available in the future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn terms of energy production, what we\u2019re doing commercially doesn\u2019t make any sense in the long run,\u201d Higgins said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy fellow researchers and I are trying to aggressively develop technology that can move some of these ideas about algal biofuels out of the lab into commercial space,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever looked at algae growing in a pond and wondered if it can fuel your car? Probably not. But this is a serious question for Brendan Higgins, assistant professor of biosystems engineering. Higgins is part of Auburn University\u2019s team of researchers studying scalable energy conversion science and technology. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[537,932,925],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>53 Game-changers: Brendan Higgins &raquo; Auburn Engineer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/?p=4451\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"53 Game-changers: Brendan Higgins &raquo; Auburn Engineer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Have you ever looked at algae growing in a pond and wondered if it can fuel your car? Probably not. But this is a serious question for Brendan Higgins, assistant professor of biosystems engineering. Higgins is part of Auburn University\u2019s team of researchers studying scalable energy conversion science and technology. 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