[Source: Arizona Daily Star] – Take a little Arizona sunshine and mix in water and some cow manure. It’s the perfect recipe for what some see as the next major industry for the state: algae farming.
Arizona with its sunny, warm climate has been hailed as the ideal region for algae biomass production. Proponents hope that algae, which can contain up to 60 percent oil, can some day squeeze out a petroleum substitute that could be produced at a price low enough to compete with natural gas.
But first, researchers must find the best way to mass produce the crop, something that several companies in the state are hustling to do.
One Arizona firm, Phyco Biosciences, is banking on its agricultural-style series of plastic-lined troughs bubbling with oxygen and nutrients to commercialize algae biomass.
For more information: AZ firm trying to cash in on algae biofuel