Monday, October 27, 2008

Will Feeding Organic Waste to Algae Increase Oil Yield? asks University of Virginia Prof Lisa Colosi

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One key difficulty with algae is yields – typically, many algae growing in a natural state only produces about one percent by weight of the hydrocarbons desired. Now new a new research program from the University of Virginia aims to change that.

The new program, funded by a UVA Collaborative Sustainable Energy Seed Grant worth about $30,000, seeks to apply analytical engineering practices to optimizing the algae's fuel output.

According to Professor Lisa Colosi, a professor of civil and environmental engineering who is part of the project team, feeding carbon dioxide and organic waste to the algae can increase their oil yield to as high as 40 percent by weight. If the team can prove that either of the factors can indeed boost production, it would provide additional benefits. If the organic sludge works, the algae could be used to treat wastewater. If the concentrated carbon dioxide works, the algae could have coal power-plant flue gas bubbled through it, which contains 10 to 30 times atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. This could help cut the emissions from coal plants. Algae could else help remove nitrogen gas from industrial sources.

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