In the last few years there has been a large movement by up to 50 small companies supported by DOE, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), venture capital and private investors using algae to produce biodiesel.   In addition, universities and companies, both large and small, are pursuing this opportunity.  This process could impact the water and wastewater community as algae requires large volumes of water and the scale of these operations will entail large-scale engineering efforts for producing fuels or chemical feedstock based upon the lipids produced.  Many of these companies bank their strategies on using brackish water or wastewater as a feed.  The algae-to-fuel effort faces discharge concerns, nutrient controls and water use constraints. 

The Water Environment Federation (WEF) convened a meeting at WEFTEC’08 to explore the use of algae to produce biofuels to partially meet energy needs in the United States and globally.  The meeting drew nearly 80 people from many disciplines including academia, industry, municipalities, consultants and manufacturers. 

Highlights and links to presentations at the meeting are below:

• An Overview of the Technology,
• Energy-Water Nexus Perspective and the Promise and Challenge of Algae as Biofuel Feedstock,
• The Intersection of Wastewater and Algae,
• Algaewheel Technology for Wastewater Treatment Plants,
• Algal Biodiesel Fuel Production Coupled to Wastewater Effluent Nutrient Reduction,
• Roadblocks to Production of Algae at Wastewater Treatment Plants, and Opportunities for WEF to Move the Technology Forward, and
• Discussion of Potential Next Steps for WEF on Algae Issues (meeting minutes).

Conclusions of the meeting included: 

• Knowledge gaps (e.g. technology, research) and identification of regulatory impacts need to be addressed;
• Focus on algae as a treatment technology with biofuel production as an added benefit; and
• Recommendation to form a core group to determine next steps for WEF.

If you are interested in learning more about WEF activities in this area, contact Rob Schweinfurth at rschweinfurth@wef.org.