Nanofarming: A Novel Way to Harvest Algal Oil for Algal Biodiesel Production

The Ames Laboratory of the United States Department of Energy (US-DOE) reports that its scientists (together with colleagues from the Iowa State University) have developed "a groundbreaking ‘nanofarming' technology that safely harvests oil from the algae so the pond-based "crop" can keep on producing". The technology involves the use of nanoparticles (particles with sizes on a nanometer, or one-billionth-of-a-meter scale) to extract the oil from the algae, without destroying algal viability. The conventional method for algal oil extraction from algae usually involves destroying or breaking the algal cells in order to extract the oil. With the new "nanofarming" technology, the pond-grown algae are not destroyed and the algal cells continue to produce the oil while the nanoparticles harvest them. This would result in a reduction of production cost. The extracted oil is then converted into biodiesel by a process which uses a solid catalyst.