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Montana State University researchers have discovered that baking soda can dramatically increase algae’s production of the key oil precursors for biodiesel.
The same ingredient that causes cookies to rise in the oven, the same agent that calms upset stomachs and removes odors from refrigerators is the elusive chemical trigger that scientists have sought since the early 1990s, said Rob Gardner, an MSU graduate student in chemical and biological engineering and a native of Afton, Wyo.
When added at a particular time in the growing cycle, baking soda more than doubled the amount of oil produced in half the time in three different types of algae.
“It took a lot of work. I was pretty thrilled when it all came together,” Gardner said. “I’m still kind of in shock about it.”
Gardner is part of the team that developed the algal biofuel technology that MSU is now offering for licensing. Other members are longtime algae experts — Keith Cooksey, research professor emeritus in microbiology, and Brent Peyton, professor in chemical and biological engineering and associate director of MSU’s Thermal Biology Institute. Representing the College of Engineering and College of Letters and Science, all three belong to MSU’s Algal Biofuels Group, “one of the best cooperative research groups on campus,” according to Cooksey.
