Gov. Robert Bentley toured a small but closely watched Daphne company that has spent the past two years experimenting with an unusual process: turning algae grown in treated wastewater into crude oil and clean drinking water.
Bentley’s tour of Algae Systems spotlighted a Baldwin County pilot program that has already drawn national attention. Originally launched in 2012, the venture grew out of a chance connection made over social media between a Nevada-based innovator and a local economic development contact, according to company representatives, and it has since attracted roughly $15 million in backing from a Japanese engineering firm along with more than $7.5 million in local investment.
The company’s process starts with the city of Daphne’s wastewater, which is piped to a floating platform extending into Mobile Bay near Bayfront Park. There, sunlight and wave motion drive controlled algae blooms inside large plastic enclosures. The algae consumes nutrients from the wastewater, effectively cleaning it, before being harvested and heated to produce a bio-crude oil that can be refined into diesel fuel.
Company officials say the approach offers a rare trifecta: treating municipal sewage, generating a usable fuel product, and producing carbon credits tied to advanced biofuel standards. If the economics hold up at a larger scale, backers argue the process could remove more carbon from the atmosphere than burning the resulting fuel releases.
The Daphne operation has employed about 25 people, a modest but meaningful number for the Baldwin County economy, and has become something of a local point of pride as it drew coverage from national outlets exploring the science behind the wastewater-to-fuel process.
State and local officials joined Bentley for the site visit, which comes as Alabama continues courting alternative-energy investment along the Gulf Coast. Whether the technology can be scaled beyond a pilot project remains an open question, but for now, the floating bags of algae along Daphne’s waterfront represent one of Baldwin County’s more unusual economic development stories.
Local leaders say they hope continued state attention could help attract further investment to the Eastern Shore, where officials have been eager to diversify the local economy beyond tourism and traditional industry.