♪ soft music ♪

Emily: This goes back to high school.

So I was taking an environmental science class

and we talked about algae for about a week

and I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever heard

- using algae to fuel cars.

When I got to KU and I took a class

and Belinda visited our class,

she talked about the algae

at the wastewater treatment plant

and what she was doing.

I knew I wanted to work with her.

Belinda: This would be a really typical lagoon

in western Kansas, so what we'll do is sample

and hopefully have enough

that we can create meaningful biofuel.

Emily: As I've been working here,

we've gotten the greenhouse,

we've gotten the raceway ponds

so we can do large-scale experiments.

The end result with growing algae in the greenhouse

is we get cleaner water from the algae

and then we get a concentrated algal mass

to turn into biofuel.

♪ upbeat music ♪

Belinda: All of my students amaze me.

I will pop into the lab at random times.

I'm at home and I remember something

and I need to come in and I will see students there.

An undergraduate like Emily, who's been working in my lab

for two years, she knows how I like research

to be conducted and she thinks independently.

At this point, I wish I could just keep them forever.

Emily: What I'm adding is an algae media

and it just has nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus,

other things that not only help the algae grow,

but mimic the composition of wastewater

and that's the key component to growing algae

off of wastewater is to see if it will remove that nitrogen

and phosphorus that we don't want in the water.

It starts off a light tint of green and over time

this will just turn darker and darker.

In the course of a week, it will be really dark green.

So once this algae is really dense,

we will hose it into a large centrifuge

which will spin it very quickly.

It will capture the algae within and the water

will be discharged out another hose - completely fresh water.

The algae will be kind of a toothpaste consistency,

and we can run tests on it - see how good of algae it is,

turn it into fuel, and test those properties.

Susan: The Feedstock to Tailpipe initiative

is really unique because it brings together faculty

and scientists and students.

With our group here, at KU, we have expertise in the growth

and utilizing wastewater for growing the algae

and the conversion of that biomass into higher value products

and then the utilization of the oil or the fuels we produce

in engines so we really can understand the entire range

and how it all works together.

Emily: That's one of the aspects

- is trying to make a process that is low tech,

that can be done maybe in rural areas.

Like in western Kansas, if they have these lagoons,

they could implement a process like this

- growing algae to remove that nitrogen phosphorus.

♪ dramatic inspiring music ♪

The thing I enjoy most is starting these ponds

and then coming in every day

because they wouldn't be here if it weren't for me

and if I didn't feed them.

I'm making sure these algae are doing well

and they're growing up good and strong

for us to make fuel.

♪ music ends ♪