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Algae naturally produce oil. When it’s processed, that oil can be turned into biofuel, an alternative energy source. There’s just one snag—harvesting the oil from algae-filled water is prohibitively expensive. But researchers have come up with an effervescent solution: bubbles smaller than the width of a human hair can help reduce the costs of collecting algae oil.
藻類可自然產生油料。當對這種油料進行加工時，其可轉化為生物燃料——這也是一種替代能源。但是，這種獲取燃料的方式還存在一個障礙：從充斥著藻類的水中收集油料的成本是極其昂貴的。但如今研究者們已找到了一個令人歡欣鼓舞的解決辦法：使用小于人體毛發寬度的微小氣泡可降低獲取藻類油料所產生的成本。
So-called micro-bubbles are already used for water purification—they surround contaminants and float them out of the liquid. Similarly, in water containing algae, bubbles can float the algae to the surface for easy collection and processing.
所謂的微氣泡已用于水凈化領域——這種微氣泡可以包住污染物并使它們從水中流出。與此類似，在充斥藻類的水中，微氣泡可使藻類浮到水面上，從而易于藻類的收集和加工。
The research builds on previous work that used micro-bubbles to grow algae more densely and thus increase production. This time, however, the researchers produced the fizziness with a new method that uses far less energy, and is cheaper to install. The study is in the journal Biotechnology and Bioengineering.
這項研究建立在以往的工作之上——以前使用微氣泡使藻類生長得更密集以此來提高產量。然而，這一次研究人員發明了新方法，耗費很少的能量，花費很少的設備安裝成本，就可產生大量的微氣泡。這項研究刊登在《生物技術和生物工程》雜志上。
Although micro-bubbles improve algae harvesting in the lab, they still have to work at larger scales. The researchers are planning a pilot program for an algae biofuel plant, in the hope of making really green energy.
雖然微氣泡在實驗室條件下可以提高藻類的收集，但要想這項技術得到大規模的應用，還需假以時日。研究人員正計劃設立一個藻類生物燃料試點工廠，以期獲得真正的綠色能源。
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