by Raymond Alexander Kukkee

Created on: February 21, 2009

Fuel from Algae: Algae Is Not All Bad

Is algae a new answer to the energy crisis? Can biofuels really be harvested from pond scum?
Energy-starved populations world-wide may be pleasantly surprised at the answer. A significant development in the field of energy, common algae is now being examined far more carefully as a potential and substantial source of alternative, renewable and sustainable energy.

What is Algae?
Difficult to eliminate, and usually referred to with much disdain as "pond slime" or "pond scum", the common algae known in scientific circles as cyanobacteria is a blue-green strain of algae that has always been considered an undesirable nuisance and an unwanted invasive growth, especially in home ponds, municipal water sources, or recreational bodies of water.
Algae grows virtually in all geographical regions of the globe, but grows faster in warm water. In moderately warm, temperate zones, thousands of different strains of algae express themselves as growths of variable colour ranging from shades of olive, yellow- green to bluish-green, or even to red varieties. Regardless of colour, algae is characteristically a non-vascular, fine string-like plant growth.

Algae typically grows deep in the water, but as it grows and develops in optimal conditions, it cleverly adjusts it's own buoyancy to optimize it's depth for light and other growing conditions. In doing so, it can, and often rises to the top, creating a surface bloom', and grows rapidly, at times to thicknesses of 4" or more, forming a floating, suffocating blanket on top of any quiet, or even slow-moving bodies of water. It eventually begins to die off, releasing toxins and creating the foul odour typical of decaying organic plant matter. The decaying matter typically sinks to the bottom of the water body or washed up on shore as an unsightly mess.

Some algae must be avoided by swimmers and animals alike; for a number of strains of algae can generate hepatotoxins that attack the liver, neurotoxins that attack the nervous system, and other compounds that are skin irritants. Toxins released into the water when the algal cells rupture or die can make both animals and humans sick, or in the extreme, even be fatal. The presence of microcystins, a group of toxins produced by cyanobacteria in drinking water can be a serious problem. (1)
Algae is also detrimental to aquatic environments for fish, for just as it grows, it dies off and decays, creating a high B.O.D., or biological oxygen demand , depleting

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