The Algal Turf Scrubber® offers unparalleled performance for nutrient pollution control by optimizing algae’s natural capabilities to recover excess nutrients from water.
The Algal Turf Scrubber® serves as a culture unit for periphytic algae, some of the most prolific and productive plant species on earth. The diverse nature of these systems, along with the fact that the algae directly remove nutrients from the water, allows the technology to offer unparalleled performance for nutrient pollution control.
Polluted water is conveyed to the Algal Turf Scrubber® unit, where it is pulsed in waves across a sloped floway. Algal turf or dense mats of simple algae are cultivated on the surface. As the algae grow, they remove nutrient pollutants (nitrogen and phosphorus) from the water. Algal biomass is then regularly harvested and processed into marketable commodities such as soil-enhancing compost or livestock feed; in the future, the biomass may be used as biofuel feedstock. The harvest of plant biomass maintains the culture units in an accelerated growth phase and provides sustainability as nutrients are continuously recovered and removed from the treatment unit.
In addition to direct plant uptake, the Algal Turf Scrubber® is optimized through system design and operational practices to facilitate precipitation of phosphorus into the algal biomass. This increases the system’s ability to capture phosphorus, further enhancing its capabilities as a pollutant recovery tool.