Making Algae Work

Establishing algae farms near industrial facilities might be a way to make algal biofuels economically viable, writes Mark Fischetti at Scientific American. He says that waste from other industrial processes, which could include CO₂, nitrogen, or phosphorus, can be routed into the algae facilities, knocking down both an input cost barrier and solving a waste issue. “Whether such combinations will make algal biofuel commercially competitive remains to be seen, but it seems likely that co-location will be a big factor making a sizeable industry possible,” Fischetti writes.