This question was posed by my department head, and I have not heard about this being a possibility. If anyone has any insight that would be great! "Students are working on a TSA project and want to use algae to remove chemicals from contaminated water. Are you familiar with algae and chemicals that it removes from water? Does algae remove chemicals from water? Just carbon dioxide?" Like I said I have not heard of this occurring. The only idea I had was that maybe if the algae would go through chemo-synthesis, using the contaminants as the reactants. The only similar to this I have seen in using microorganisms to clean up oil. Any direction or assistance would be beneficial for these students. Thanks! Patrick Reid
Algae are excellent for cleaning contaminated water. As a matter of fact they don't need fresh water to grow, they prefer water from wastewater treatment plants, produced water from oil wells, etc. Check Origin Oil's website http://www.originoil.com/. I am almost finished writing a book for ages 10-14 about algae as a biofuel , as well as its many other uses. Let me know if you have an interest.
Patrick wrote, '[i]Students are working on a TSA project and want to use algae to remove chemicals from contaminated water. Are you familiar with algae and chemicals that it removes from water? Does algae remove chemicals from water? Just carbon dioxide?[/i]' Hi Patrick, I have been meaning to post about your questions sooner. When I think of bio-remediation of water using algae, I think of heavy metal contamination. I am very familiar with algae and their removal of heavy metals from water. Algae secrete substances called phytochelatins that remove the heavy metals from water so as to not hamper the algae's growth. A phytochelatin is a chelating agent which means it binds to the heavy metal ion so that it cannot be harmful to the algae. The phytochelatin with the attached heavy metal ion is commonly stored in the algae's central vacuole. Algae have also been found to secrete phytochelatins into the water in which the algae is living. In this scenario, the phytochelatin binds with the heavy metal ion and is not harmful to the algae because the algae do not ingest the heavy metal ion. The existence of phytochelatins has been known since the late 1980s. Ben Checkroun and Baghour just recently published a review of the scientific literature regarding these naturally occurring substances. It may be helpful to you. Just respond to this thread if you have questions. Next, let's talk about your students' project. How old are your students? It may not be wise for them to work with heavy metals depending upon their age. Another keyword search that you might encourage your students to do is search using the word phytoremediation. When they do this, they might bring up some sources that discuss higher plants, but they will also see a lot of references to algae. All the best!
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