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from the check-the-side-of-my-fish-tank-for-more dept.
Algae is proving to be pretty darn useful – in recent years, it's been used to produce oxygen, purify wastewater, provide light and serve as a source of biofuel. Now, bioplastics firm Algix and clean tech company Effekt are making flexible foam out of the stuff, too.
The process starts with the harvesting of algae from waste streams in the US and Asia, using a mobile floating platform. In such settings, the overly-nutrient-rich waters often create algal blooms, which in turn cause the death of aquatic life such as fish. Therefore, no additional fertilizers are required to grow the algae, and removing it can actually help the local environment.
That harvested algae biomass is subsequently dewatered and dried, polymerized into pellets, then combined with other compounds to ultimately form a soft, pliable foam. Depending on the formulation and intended application, the algae makes up anywhere from 15 to 60 percent of the finished product, which is said to be similar in quality to traditional petroleum-derived foam.
The term "pond scum" may be in the process of being rehabilitated.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by ikanreed on Thursday August 27 2015, @01:19PM
So... I had the... luxury... of touring a wastewater treatment plant with a college environmental science class. One of the biggest fears they have is that someone will flush enough bleach or similar to kill all their bacteria.
Apparently it costs a fortune to replace them and they're a critical part of the process of making nasty poo water into water that's cleaner than the stream they dump it into.
Off topic: I learned the job I'd like least that day. There's someone whose job it is to clean the flushed condoms off the coarse filter.