A team in Hawaii, led by the Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center (PBARC), is developing an approach to growing algae using agriculture waste and rotation crops. The ZeroWaste Algae Project started by using papaya waste, and is rapidly progressing from lab scale to small commercial scale pilots by the end of the year. The concept is to use waste, such as papaya that is thrown away at the packing plant, or sweet potatoes that are left in the field, as a carbon source for algae. The waste can be purchased or gathered at very low cost (currently $.03/lb. for the papaya waste). The algae consumes the papaya and converts it to oils and a high protein algae meal that can support aquaculture. The oils will be sold to biofuels producers, and the algae meal will be provided to fish farms at a far lower cost than current feeds. See Report Here http://www.ct-si.org/events/APCE2011/sld/pdf/51.pdf
