Scientists from the University's of Bath Department of Biology and Biochemistry have teamed up with Chinese environmental innovation company Aragreen to open an industrial plant in Gloucestershire that uses algae to clean waste water.
The pilot project will demonstrate the efficacy of algae as a sustainable water polishing technology, using waste water from a nearby water plant. The algae will then be harvested and used in the production of saleable products.
The first of its kind in the UK, this pilot scheme will be used to trial different techniques and methods, and to experiment with different species of algae to find those suitable for water polishing and biofuel, biochemical and protein production.
The plant has been built on a brownfield ex-First World War field telephone cable production site which has been derelict for seven years. The team hope that it will enter commercial production by the end of 2012.
Rod Scott, professor of plant molecular biology and academic lead on the project, said: “There is a large demand for both sustainable water polishing techniques and production methods for renewable fuels and algae biomass which pose less competition to increasingly scarce productive farmland.
“However, finding a cost-effective method for growing algae in large quantities has historically been difficult.
“By working with Dr Tom Arnot in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Professor Matthew Davidson in the Department of Chemistry, we have invested in a multidisciplinary approach to tackle these issues.”
