A small Daphne startup that turns pond scum into fuel and clean water is about to get a high-profile visitor. Gov. Robert Bentley is scheduled to tour Algae Systems’ pilot operation on Mobile Bay, joining state and local officials for a 2 p.m. walkthrough on Wednesday.
The company has quietly become one of Baldwin County’s more intriguing technology ventures. What started from a chance connection on social media has grown into a roughly 25-person operation that has poured more than $7.5 million into the local economy since setting up along the bay.
Algae Systems is headquartered in Nevada but chose Daphne for its experimental plant, drawn in part by the water and sunlight of Mobile Bay. The 2012 startup got off the ground with a $15 million investment from the Japanese engineering firm IHI and has concentrated on producing bio-crude oil and drinking water using algae grown in the bay.
The process is unusual. The plant draws in municipal wastewater and uses it as a nutrient to feed controlled algae blooms. As the algae grow, they help clean the water; the harvested biomass is then run through a high-heat process that yields a bio-crude that can be refined into diesel fuel. A floating dock reaching into the bay near Bayfront Park holds bags of effluent, and the reaction is driven largely by wave motion and sunlight rather than added energy.
The company says the approach does more than make fuel. By its account, the system simultaneously produces clean water from sewage, converts carbon-rich residue into fertilizer and generates credits for advanced biofuels. If the technology performs as promised, officials with the firm contend it could pull more carbon out of the atmosphere than is released when the resulting fuel is burned.
That combination has attracted attention well beyond the Gulf Coast. The pilot plant drew national coverage over the summer, including a feature in a major national newspaper that highlighted the Daphne operation as a rare example of an algae-to-fuel project aiming to turn a profit by handling several jobs at once.
The governor’s stop is meant to spotlight the young company as an example of the kind of innovation state leaders hope to cultivate along the coast. For a community better known for its bayfront parks and neighborhoods, the visit underscores how a modest research effort has put Daphne on the map in the emerging clean-energy field.
Officials planned to release more details following the tour.