UK looks into implementing a ’sewage algae biofuel system’
Some companies in Britain are looking into installing an algae based sewage system. This system would help create oil from the algae while cleaning the water.
‘In the UK, the problem with photobioreactors is that we don’t get enough sun, although we can develop the technology to harvest sunshine,’ he said. ‘But we could implement a sewage algae biofuel system in the UK.’
The technology is a win-win, Skill claims, as it cuts the energy required to treat sewage while generating a refinable biocrude. ‘Currently, when you oxidise sewage, it releases carbon dioxide and you have to put a large amount of mechanical energy in to effect that oxidisation. But as we’re growing algae, we’re using the sun’s energy to oxidise; the algae use the carbon dioxide released to make biomass and in doing so, take up nutrients in the sewage which could otherwise cause algal blooms in rivers, lakes and at sea.
‘By processing algae, we can recover nutrients and use them to make fertilisers, and also have a crude oil we can refine using conventional technology.’
They are also experimenting with algae to treat sewage here in the United States.
July 15th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
I’ve seen kits for growing your own algae at home and using it to make fuel out of your personal waste. I get the feeling that those are just scams, but the technology is interesting and looks very promising. On a related note I’ve seen a similar idea but with genetically engineered bacteria, and .
July 15th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
My bad for the bad links there.
Here are the correctly formatted links: here and here