Algae can produce clean energy, biomass for fertilizers, and convert CO2 into oxygen.
Algae occur where there is moisture. They do not have well-defined body structures like roots, stems, or leaves like other plants. Algae can be found in many types of water, both fresh water and saltwater: oceans, rivers, lakes, ponds, brackish waters and even snow. Most of us think green when algae are mentioned, but that’s not always true. They come in many colors. Unusual pink snow found in the Alps was investigated by Italian researchers. “The discoloration is the result of algae that lives on the snow and eats it," says Biagio Di Mauro, Italy's National Research Council. These algae contain carotenoid pigments in addition to chlorophyll, resulting in the reddish color. In addition, algae are both single-celled and multi-celled.
Are Algae A Problem?
Most algae are harmless and provide food for some marine species. Some, however, can grow rapidly if given the right conditions. When this happens, it creates a widespread “bloom.” It overwhelms marine habitats and wreaks havoc on the ecosystem. There are various species that cause these blooms, but it is the ones that produce dangerous biotoxins that endanger marine and human life when a bloom occurs.
Everyone has read or experienced the stories of “Florida red tide” and the “brown tides” of Long Island and Texas. These are examples of those dangerous blooms. The discoloration of the water is caused by the increase in numbers of blooming microscopic phytoplankton. In Florida, the species that causes most red tides is Karenia brevis. This organism produces a toxin that can affect the central nervous system of fish. Unique to the Gulf of Mexico, Aureoumbra lagunensis is the source of the brown tide in Texas. In Long Island the brown tide is due to Aureococcus anophagefferens.
It Seems There’s A Balance
Algae aren’t just pond scum or devastating blooms. Algae can produce clean energy, biomass for fertilizers, and convert CO2 into oxygen. Algae in the oceans, rivers, and lakes of the world are thought to produce about half of all the oxygen produced on the planet. Over a thirteen-year period, a study showed that algae, vegetation, and coral in the oceans absorbed 34 gigatons of carbon.
Algae in solar panels
Adán Ramirez Sánchez, a 23-year-old Mexican biotechnician and winner of MIT’s 2019 Latin American Innovators Under 35, has made solar panels powered by algae instead of minerals mined from the earth. An added bonus is that they are biodegradable and produce biomass, usable as fertilizer.
Algae as Food
Consuming algae as food and medicine has been a practice for centuries. Because of their varied nutrient profiles, there are many human conditions for which algae are said to be beneficial.
Algae as Fuel
Algae are renewable and are an alternative to petroleum fuels. Their usefulness was investigated in the 1970s but abandoned due to the inability to compete price-wise. Today, however, oil companies, such as Exxon, are looking to algae as an alternative for two reasons: rising costs of oil and the need for clean-energy solutions.
Even though it is proven that algae can produce as much as 5,000 gallons of biofuel from a single acre in one year, there continue to be issues regarding costs and extraction procedures. Hopefully, scientists will persevere in pursuing this alternative.
Algae as Material
Research is underway by Dutch designers Eric Klarenbeek and Maartje Dros to use algae to create a bioplastic as a replacement for fossil-derived plastic. In their research, they cultivated aquatic algae, which is then dried and processed into a material that can be used with 3D printers to create objects. Their expectation is to be able to completely replace fossil-derived plastics.
Algae as Carbon Sequestration
Trees are not as efficient as algae in removing CO2 from the atmosphere. As a matter of fact, algae are 400 times more efficient when used in conjunction with AI-powered bioreactors. A bioreactor is an apparatus for growing organisms such as algae under controlled conditions. Bioreactors are used in industrial processes to produce pharmaceuticals and vaccines as well as such things as converting raw materials into useful byproducts such as in the bioconversion of corn into ethanol.
Algae absorb carbon, as do trees, but they are able to grow faster and cover more area than trees. Bioreactors can contain large amounts of algae and control their growth, which protects the ecosystem. The overgrowth is dehydrated and used as biomass, a renewable source of carbon-based energy generated from combusting plant matter.
Bottom Line
Beyond the reported health benefits, algae are among the most potentially significant sources of sustainable biofuels in the future of renewable energy. They also have tremendous potential for contributing to solutions for the carbon emissions problem plaguing our planet. If we can develop a way to absorb more carbon from the atmosphere using algae in conjunction with changing our lifestyles and reducing our dependence on harmful man-made products, which create more carbon, we may be able to turn this crisis we are facing around.
As with any possibility, however, there can be issues if people rush blindly into it. This is true with the prospect of using algae as well. Research is necessary. Funding will be necessary, and politics must be kept out of the equation.
Algae occur where there is moisture. They do not have well-defined body structures like roots, stems, or leaves like other plants. Algae can be found in many types of water, both fresh water and saltwater: oceans, rivers, lakes, ponds, brackish waters and even snow. Most of us think green when algae are mentioned, but that’s not always true. They come in many colors. Unusual pink snow found in the Alps was investigated by Italian researchers. “The discoloration is the result of algae that lives on the snow and eats it," says Biagio Di Mauro, Italy's National Research Council. These algae contain carotenoid pigments in addition to chlorophyll, resulting in the reddish color. In addition, algae are both single-celled and multi-celled.
Are Algae A Problem?
Most algae are harmless and provide food for some marine species. Some, however, can grow rapidly if given the right conditions. When this happens, it creates a widespread “bloom.” It overwhelms marine habitats and wreaks havoc on the ecosystem. There are various species that cause these blooms, but it is the ones that produce dangerous biotoxins that endanger marine and human life when a bloom occurs.
Everyone has read or experienced the stories of “Florida red tide” and the “brown tides” of Long Island and Texas. These are examples of those dangerous blooms. The discoloration of the water is caused by the increase in numbers of blooming microscopic phytoplankton. In Florida, the species that causes most red tides is Karenia brevis. This organism produces a toxin that can affect the central nervous system of fish. Unique to the Gulf of Mexico, Aureoumbra lagunensis is the source of the brown tide in Texas. In Long Island the brown tide is due to Aureococcus anophagefferens.
It Seems There’s A Balance
Algae aren’t just pond scum or devastating blooms. Algae can produce clean energy, biomass for fertilizers, and convert CO2 into oxygen. Algae in the oceans, rivers, and lakes of the world are thought to produce about half of all the oxygen produced on the planet. Over a thirteen-year period, a study showed that algae, vegetation, and coral in the oceans absorbed 34 gigatons of carbon.
Algae in solar panels
Adán Ramirez Sánchez, a 23-year-old Mexican biotechnician and winner of MIT’s 2019 Latin American Innovators Under 35, has made solar panels powered by algae instead of minerals mined from the earth. An added bonus is that they are biodegradable and produce biomass, usable as fertilizer.
Algae as Food
Consuming algae as food and medicine has been a practice for centuries. Because of their varied nutrient profiles, there are many human conditions for which algae are said to be beneficial.
Algae as Fuel
Algae are renewable and are an alternative to petroleum fuels. Their usefulness was investigated in the 1970s but abandoned due to the inability to compete price-wise. Today, however, oil companies, such as Exxon, are looking to algae as an alternative for two reasons: rising costs of oil and the need for clean-energy solutions.
Even though it is proven that algae can produce as much as 5,000 gallons of biofuel from a single acre in one year, there continue to be issues regarding costs and extraction procedures. Hopefully, scientists will persevere in pursuing this alternative.
Algae as Material
Research is underway by Dutch designers Eric Klarenbeek and Maartje Dros to use algae to create a bioplastic as a replacement for fossil-derived plastic. In their research, they cultivated aquatic algae, which is then dried and processed into a material that can be used with 3D printers to create objects. Their expectation is to be able to completely replace fossil-derived plastics.
Algae as Carbon Sequestration
Trees are not as efficient as algae in removing CO2 from the atmosphere. As a matter of fact, algae are 400 times more efficient when used in conjunction with AI-powered bioreactors. A bioreactor is an apparatus for growing organisms such as algae under controlled conditions. Bioreactors are used in industrial processes to produce pharmaceuticals and vaccines as well as such things as converting raw materials into useful byproducts such as in the bioconversion of corn into ethanol.
Algae absorb carbon, as do trees, but they are able to grow faster and cover more area than trees. Bioreactors can contain large amounts of algae and control their growth, which protects the ecosystem. The overgrowth is dehydrated and used as biomass, a renewable source of carbon-based energy generated from combusting plant matter.
Bottom Line
Beyond the reported health benefits, algae are among the most potentially significant sources of sustainable biofuels in the future of renewable energy. They also have tremendous potential for contributing to solutions for the carbon emissions problem plaguing our planet. If we can develop a way to absorb more carbon from the atmosphere using algae in conjunction with changing our lifestyles and reducing our dependence on harmful man-made products, which create more carbon, we may be able to turn this crisis we are facing around.
As with any possibility, however, there can be issues if people rush blindly into it. This is true with the prospect of using algae as well. Research is necessary. Funding will be necessary, and politics must be kept out of the equation.
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