Mo. power plants to cut emissions by growing algae

Forbes.com
Associated Press

By DAVID A. LIEB
09.05.08, 5:22 PM ET

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -
Now this could provide some truly green power.

A pair of Missouri universities and electric companies announced plans Friday to use the carbon dioxide pollution from coal-fired power plants to grow green pond scum that could be turned into biofuel.

The project at the Central Electric Power Cooperative's plants east of Jefferson City is starting out small. Only a relatively little portion of its carbon dioxide emissions will be diverted from its flues and pumped into pools of sunlit water teeming with algae.

The bubbling gas is a rich food for the plants, which will be harvested as an alternative fuel. Algae oil can be processed into biodiesel, its carbohydrates used for ethanol and its proteins for livestock feed.

The potential benefits are twofold: a reduction in greenhouse gases and a homegrown fuel source.

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