Blooming Biofuel: How Algae Could Provide the Solution

The distant sparkle of algae is coming into focus. Interest is growing exponentially and a handful of companies are planning the leap from research to commercial production of algae-based fuels.

by Jeffrey Decker

Posted under Industry News, Research News

This post was written by Anders Riel Muller on June 25, 2009

NASA Grows Algae for Biofuel, Treats Waste Irene Klotz, Discovery News

May 14, 2009 — Take some NASA-developed plastic membranes, add algae and municipal waste water and float it out to sea. What have you got? An environmentally friendly alternative to U.S. dependence on foreign oil, says one NASA scientist.

Jonathan Trent, a researcher at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., sees algae farmed at sea as a win-win-win scenario: The plants are oil-rich and easy to grow; sea-based nurseries leave land free for food production; and the process should take out more carbon from the atmosphere than what it puts in.

As an added bonus, the system purifies waste water now being pumped into the ocean.
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Posted under News, Research News

This post was written by Anders Riel Muller on June 10, 2009