Powered by algae? Maybe.

April 11, 2008 10:44 am

— CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A pilot project aimed at turning green ponds of algae into biodiesel has gotten a green light for state funding.
The Iowa Power Fund board has authorized final negotiations for a $2 million grant for the first phase of a three-project.
The project by Green Plains Renewable Energy would use byproducts from the company’s ethanol plant in Shenandoah to grow algae, which would be harvested and turned into biodiesel.
Green Plains’ partner, Massachusetts-based GreenFuel Technologies, has led other projects, including an algae-based bioreactor that produces ethanol and biodiesel using power plant gases in Arizona. It also developed an algae farm in Kansas that uses emissions from a coalburning power plant.