Baking soda speeds up algal growth rate for biofuels: research
In Montana, Montana State University researchers Keith Cooksey, Rob Gardner and Brent Peyton found that baking soda, if added at the correct moment in the growing cycle of algae doubled the amount of oil, in half the time in three different types of algae.
Rob Gardner stated, “It took a lot of work. I was pretty thrilled when it all came together… I’m still kind of in shock about it.” The research team put in a lot of time and effort into their research, having to solve two problems. The first problem was identifying a chemical that would boost production. The second problem was finding when in the growth cycle to add the chemical for the best effect. Cooksey first taught Gardner to grow two types of brown algae and a green algae, and then Gardner spent approximately a year and a half before the researchers were able to confirm that baking soda was the chemical they were looking for.
Cooksey posited that baking soda worked because it delivered CO2 at a critical point in the algal growth cycle. Too early or late, and there was no effect on the production of lipids.
Category: Research
