Researchers Feed Algae Carbon Dioxide, Sewage To Increase Oil Production

Richmond, VA (AHN) - Pond scum could someday provide abundant clean, green renewable fuel for America's vehicles.

Scientists already have found a way to extract oil from algae. In fact, algae yield 30 times more oil per acre than soybeans, and that oil, like soybean oil, can be burned directly in diesel engines or further refined into biodiesel.

However, University of Virginia researchers are now working on a process that will solve some environmental problems, while boosting algae yields per acre even higher. They plan to accomplish that by feeding algae more carbon dioxide, which is the main contributor to greenhouse gases fueling global warming, and by feeding it organic waste materials like sewage.

That means producing a renewable fuel source to replace oil while cleaning up the environment, scientists say.

"We have to prove these two things to show that we really are getting a free lunch," Lisa Colosi, a University of Virginia. professor of civil and environmental engineering who is part of the interdisciplinary research team, said in a statement.

Scientists have known for a while that they could produce oil from algae, however, there hasn't been much commercial interest because oil yields were only about 1 percent by weight. But, University of Virginia researchers think that feeding algae carbon dioxide and sewage could boost oil yields to as much as 40 percent, Colosi said.

Algae produce oil as a byproduct of its photosynthesis process, in which algae efficiently transform carbon dioxide and sunlight into energy doubling their body weight several times a day.