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Algae,
sunlight help clean the coal industry
A tiny organism may help solve a big pollution problem for the coal
industry. Scientists at Ohio University are studying how algae and
sunlight, through photosynthesis, can inexpensively absorb some
of the carbon dioxide emissions produced when coal is burned by
power plants.
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Rick
Fatica
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| Algae
could diminish power plant pollution. |
The technique
would work like this: As carbon dioxide exhaust moves toward the
smokestacks, it passes through tubes of running water, creating
bicarbonates that bubble in the water like soda pop. The water then
flows through a bioreactor that contains a series of screens on
which algae or a related organism called cyanobacteria grow with
the aid of sunlight.
“The algae basically drink the bicarbonates,” says Assistant
Professor of Mechanical Engineering David Bayless, who is coordinating
the project with Assistant Professor of Environmental and Plant
Biology Morgan Vis and Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Gregory Kremer.
The researchers recently received a $1.07 million grant from the
U.S. Department of Energy to develop their prototype system on a
larger scale. First, they must determine the optimal amount of nutrients
and sunlight the algae need as well as what type of algae or cyanobacteria
will grow best, says Vis, who specializes in algae research.
Algae is not only cheap and plentiful, notes Bayless, but could
be collected from the power plants for use in agriculture. “Once
the algae is grown, if it can’t be used as fuel or a hydrogen
source, it can be used as a fertilizer or soil stabilizer,”
he says.
Bayless estimates that an average-size power plant could process
20 percent of its carbon dioxide emissions and produce more than
200,000 tons of algae per year.
— Andrea Gibson
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