Algal Biomass for Water Clean-Up-A Slightly Different Twist on Algae

Abstract

Algae strains have been receiving attention lately as a biomass with many uses. Much of the interest has been for growing algae in dedicated systems and focusing on strains with high lipid content for the production of biodiesel. Other algal varieties will grow in a more open environment under a wider range of conditions, including in municipal water treatment operations. These biomass cultures will concurrently reduce the concentration of certain nutrients which could otherwise require significant cost and effort to remove; thus, the algal biomass can effectively perform work in a relatively passive, organic sense. The resultant biomass is a co-product which results from the growth process. Such biomass represents an economic resource which may be used as a feedstock for energy or other biomass products. This paper outlines the development of a different approach for using algal growth to clean up water and then re-purpose the resultant algal biomass as an economic resource. The overall effort in this development leveraged an innovative interdisciplinary approach including collaborators from Engineering/Technology, Biology, Business, and Engineering Management realms.

Department(s)

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering

Keywords and Phrases

Algae; Economic Resource; Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Document Type

Article - Conference proceedings

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2024 Curran Associates Inc., All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 2017

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