Algae to Clean Up Oil Refinery Waste Water
Scientists from Hawaii are conducting an experiment to use microalgae for industrial waste water treatment, particularly oil refinery. They have found that the algae is capable of removing noxious chemicals, including 90% ammonia-nitrogen and 97% phosphorus.
The experiment is being carried out with two algal species – Chlorella and Scenedesmus. As the microbes feed on the chemicals, they grow and multiply to provide large quantity of biomass for the production of biofuel and other specialty products.