MSU: Baking soda dramatically boosts oil production in algae

Montana State University
November 12, 2010
By Evelyn Boswell, MSU News Service

BOZEMAN -- Montana State University researchers have discovered that baking soda can dramatically increase algae's production of the key oil precursors for biodiesel.

The same ingredient that causes cookies to rise in the oven, the same agent that calms upset stomachs and removes odors from refrigerators is the elusive chemical trigger that scientists have sought since the early 1990s, said Rob Gardner, an MSU graduate student in chemical and biological engineering and a native of Afton, Wyo.

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