“Providing algae as a biomass resource while also cleaning the bay provides a greater multiplier benefit,” says Peter Gourlay, founder of the Maryland-Asia Environmental Partnership (MD-AEP).
“These technologies don’t necessarily head off the potential for an oil-spill disaster, but finding alternative biofuel sources of energy helps us think about alternatives to fossil fuels.”
Realistically, says Clean Green Chesapeake founder Dr. George Oyler, we’re at least 10 years away from being able to pump algae-based fuel into our cars. Still, the tiny organisms pack enormous potential.
Consider that an acre of soybeans can produce about 50 gallons a year of biodiesel fuel, whereas an acre of algae can produce 2,000-5,000 gallons of the same fuel. And it does so without competing for farming space and, in some situations, even cleaning the water in which it grows.
At the University of Maryland’s College of Agriculture, one project aims to harvest algae from the Susquehanna River and link with local energy companies to set up algae farms for producing biofuel.
In the project, river water running across two narrow, 300-foot-long raceways causes algae to form on a screen. Those algae absorb phosphorus and nitrogen, which are pollutants in both the Susquehanna and downriver in the Chesapeake Bay.
After sponging up the pollutants, the idea is to then harvest the algae—using something as simple as a Shop-Vac—and ferment it into biofuel.
And while no single scientific approach could prevent the type of disaster that sent nearly 5 million barrels of crude gushing into the Gulf of Mexico last year, Gourlay says local experts give the region a key role in figuring out how best to protect the Chesapeake Bay from a similar fate.
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