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Nutrients How To Utilize Nutrients To Your Advantage Using nitrogen and phosphorus to create algal biomass may be the energy solution for tomorrow. wateronline.com ■ Water Online The Magazine 44 F ew argue that one of the greatest challenges facing our world in the 21st century is to meet the energy demands necessary to support the economic growth resulting from the expanding global population. Though fossil fuels have been the mainstay in providing energy for increasing demands, the limitations of these sources call for more sustainable solutions to be advanced. Algae production has the possibility to rise to the occasion as one of these sources, and wastewater treatment plants may be able to become factories for its production. Energy experts estimate that global demand for energy will outpace its supply by more than 40 percent by 2030. Though fossil fuels will continue to dominate the supply landscape, algal biofuels potentially could replace more than 10 percent of fossil fuel sources in this time frame, which would stand to be a significant contribution. Moving in the algae direction is attractive — its energy conversion efficiency exceeds that of terrestrial biofuel sources (e.g. corn ethanol) by more than 10 times. Turning Nutrients Into Algae Domestic wastewaters contain an abundance of nutrients, specifically nitrogen and phosphorus — key ingredients in algal growth — which have negative environmental consequences if not substantially removed from treated discharges. However, integrating controlled algal production into the treatment process addresses two key environmental objectives: nutrients are removed from the treated effluent, and the algal biomass produced can be harvested and converted into usable energy. It all sounds positive, but could it be too good to be true? Historically, the deterrent to widespread algae production from wastewater is the fact that large acreages are required to produce significant quantities, making it practical only in rural areas where By Art Umble Moving in the algae direction is attractive — its energy conversion efficiency exceeds that of terrestrial biofuel sources (e.g. corn ethanol) by more than 10 times. 4 4 _ V E R T _ 0 2 1 4 E Z i n e _ M W H _ D G . i n d d 1 44_VERT_0214 EZine_MWH_DG.indd 1 1 / 3 1 / 2 0 1 4 1 : 2 2 : 5 2 P M 1/31/2014 1:22:52 PM