Upcycling of Wastewater Algae

Many companies use microalgae to clean their wastewater as a greener alternative to traditional wastewater treatment, but the disposal of this algae is costly to the company. For example, Anheuser-Busch spends about 1 million dollars per year to dispose of their wastewater algae. This project proposes to divert this waste to extract and isolate valuable compounds from the algae to create upcycled products that would eliminate the costs of algae disposal. In this project so far, the drying of the algae was examined through a variety of methods like oven and freeze drying. To determine what compounds we can isolate from the algae, inorganic and organic extraction methods were investigated and compared. In addition, the energy and cost were analyzed to see which drying method would be optimal for adoption by industry. ICP-MS was utilized to visualize how these different treatment processes affect the algae and analyze the extractions performed. These analyses set the foundation for this project’s future in upcycling these valuable compounds from wastewater algae into biofuels, fertilizers, and clean water.