Algae into oil in Sturgis

STURGIS, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - Could the fuel of the future be growing in ponds and waterways across America? A new local business thinks so, and it's set to take off at the Sturgis Waste Water Treatment Plant, where they plan to make fuel out of algae.

It may be hard to believe that a wastewater treatment plant could be the site of an energy revolution, but that's the case, and it's all about algae.

Algae is the scourge of recreational waterways and fish tanks, but now the green gunk could turn into fuel.

Dr. Jay Newman is the President of Optional Energy Partners, he told Newschannel 3 that "we have yet to talk to a single person who's said 'boy this is a dumb idea.'"

Dr. Newman and his partner, Tom Butler, think algae is the future. As oil prices rise, algae made into bio-fuel could replace it at one quarter of the cost of pumping oil.

"You can press it to make the oil from it," Dr. Newman said, "you can actually ferment the algae flower to make ethanol."

The City of Sturgis is letting these men try their bold experiment. "Sturgis has just been a fantastic partner," Butler said.

They also say it would be the first attempt at making algae fuel in Michigan, it's already growing in the water that gets purified at the wastewater treatment plant, and the two men hope to use it.

Anyone who's had a fish tank knows that algae grows fast, but 2 million pounds of algae could produce 50,000 gallons of diesel and it would only take 6 acres to grow that much in a year.

Newman and Butler's company plans to try and do exactly that in Sturgis, and the building will be powered by methane that's burnt off as waste.

"It's a very exciting concept of taking something that naturally grows and converting that into a farmable crop," Dr. Newman said.

The two men hope to get Optional Energy Partners up and running in the next few months, but they've got some stiff competition across the country as Bill Gates and the Rockefeller Foundation are working on turning algae into oil themselves.