LAWRENCE — It may be mere scum, but it’s potential gold to one Kansas University professor. Ecology and evolutionary biology professor Val Smith is a member of a KU group that is researching the use of algae as biofuel. The growth rate of algae is far greater than domestic crops and the potential yield per acre of oil from algae is more than a hundred times greater than corn, Smith said. The KU team includes ecologists, civil, mechanical, chemical and petroleum engineers; and a geographer. Algae have many advantages as a biofuel source because they can be grown in closed “photobioreactors” or in shallow ponds on marginal lands that don’t compete with food crops, he said. The process takes large amounts of water, but wastewater can be used to grow algae biofuels,
he said. In fact, some of the KU research is being carried out at the Lawrence wastewater treatment plant, as well as outdoor ponds in Douglas County and fiberglass tanks at KU.
Monday, March 11, 4 p.m.
