Rice University scientists get top results from algae municipal wastewater treatment

In Texas, in one of the first studies to examine the potential for using municipal wastewater as a feedstock for algae-based biofuels, Rice University scientists found they could easily grow high-value strains of oil-rich algae while simultaneously removing more than 90 percent of nitrates and more than 50 percent of phosphorus from wastewater. The findings, which are based on a five-month study at a wastewater treatment facility in Houston, are available online in the journal Algae.