Hobbies And Interests
Nuclear Waste
The need to separate radioactive high-level waste from low-level waste has become an issue, especially since the nuclear mishap at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan in 2011. Researchers are considering the common alga, Closterium moniliferum, as a possible cleanup agent. This alga stores radioactive isotope strontium-90. Radioactive isotopes are similar to calcium and reach the same places that contain calcium, such as milk, blood, bones and bone marrow. Alga forms crystals in its cells. First it soaks up barium calcium and strontium from the water. Then the alga crystalizes the barium and the strontium and excretes the calcium.
Sewage Treatment
Alga consumes nitrogen-containing compounds and phosphates and converts them to lipids, which are energy storage units. In a study done by a Rochester Institute of Technology mechanical engineer Eric Lannan, three types of algae consumed ammonia (99 percent), phosphates (99 percent) and nitrates (88 percent) from municipal waste water. Algae need ammonia to change from the spore state to the flagellate state during maturation and require phosphates and nitrates for food. Algae can also remove toxic heavy metal ions from sewage. They quickly absorb the metal ions through their cell surfaces and transport the metal across cell membranes to their cytoplasm.
Air Pollution
Many manufacturing plants run their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions through ponds containing algae. The algae use C02 in photosynthesis, a process whereby water and carbon dioxide combine with light to create both glucose for food and oxygen. Once the algae soak up the CO2, the oil they contain is squeezed out for biodiesel fuel, and the algae can be harvested for stock feed as well.
Runoff
Another case in which algae do not actually get rid of waste but recycle it into a usable product is runoff. As an example, chemical fertilizer has high nitrogen and phosphates, and runoff from nearby farms and lawns, as well as output from septic tanks and water wells, causes high concentrations of these chemicals in local streams and rivers. Since phosphates and nitrates are natural plant food, the phytoplankton found naturally in water can bloom into algae. The algae remove these contaminates from the water by feeding on the nitrogen and phosphates; they can eventually be recycled as fertilizer.