海藻能解决污染问题并获得新能源?

Take some NASA-developed plastic membranes, add algae and municipal waste water and float it out to sea. What have you got? An environmentally friendly alternative to U.S. dependence on foreign oil, says one NASA scientist.

如果我们在一个美国宇航局特制的塑料薄膜里放一点海藻，再加上城市废水，然后把它们一起放到海上，那么结果会得到什么呢？美国宇航局的专家告诉我们，我们得到的是一种足以减轻美国对国外石油依赖的清洁新能源。

Jonathan Trent, a researcher at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., sees algae farmed at sea as a win-win-win scenari The plants are oil-rich and easy to grow; sea-based nurseries leave land free for food production; and the process should take out more carbon from the atmosphere than what it puts in.

美国宇航局位于加州Moffett Field的Ames研究中心的研究员Jonathan Trent认为，“种”海藻是一种多赢的举措。首先这种植物富含植物油而且很容易种植；其次在大海里种植节省了土地，节省下来的土地就可以用来种其他的作物；而且这个种植的过程中吸收的大气中的碳比其产生的要多，因而也就能改善大气的含碳量。

As an added bonus, the system purifies waste water now being pumped into the ocean.

还有一个额外的好处，那就是这个系统可以将城市废水净化，然后排放到大海里。

"What we're doing is closing the loop in our own spaceship Earth environment," Trent told Discovery News. "The only catch is no one's ever done this before."

Trent对探索新闻说：“我们所做的是在我们自己的宇宙飞船——地球上创造一个生态循环系统，唯一的问题是从来没有什么物种这样做过。”

Algae has become one of the hotter commodities in the quest for fossil fuel alternatives, said Michael Frohlich, a spokesman for the National Biodiesel Board, a Missouri-based trade organization.

位于密苏里州的行业协会——国家生物柴油委员会的发言人Michael Frohlich曾说到，在寻求化石能源替代物的道路上，海藻正成为越来越热门的候选品之一。

Traditionally, algae is grown outdoors in large tanks of moving water, or inside bioreactors. The plants produce far more oil per acre than other crops, such as soybeans. Algae farming does, however, have a few technical hurdles to overcome, such as how to efficiently drain the water in which the algae grows, added Biodiesel Board technical adviser Alan Weber.

通常海藻都是在户外的大罐流水里种植，或者是生长在生物反应器里。海藻这种植物没英亩产出的植物油比诸如黄豆这些植物要多很多，但是种植海藻却又有一些技术难题需要克服。国家生物柴油委员会的技术顾问Alan Weber提到，如何很有效地抽干海藻生长的水就会是一个挺大的技术壁垒。

Trent's plan is to grow freshwater algae in nutrient-rich waste water inside semi-permeable plastic membranes. The natural salinity of the ocean will draw the freshwater out, retaining the plants and nutrients. The membranes prevent saltwater from getting inside and killing the plants, while ocean waves keep the algae mixed and healthy. The process treats the sewage water, which is then released into the ocean, and after the algae is harvested, the plastic bags can be recycled.

Trent 的计划是将清水海藻种植在充满富营养废水的半透塑料薄膜里。自然海水的盐度会使得半透膜内的纯水流出来，而植物和营养物依然留在膜内。薄膜还可以防止盐水进入薄膜内部从而杀死海藻，同时潮水的涨落保持着海藻健康而均匀地分布着。种植的过程将废水处理成洁净的水排入海中，而且在收获完海藻后，那些塑料袋也是可以回收的。

The concept already has been demonstrated in laboratories, in part supported by $400,000 from Google earmarked for NASA sustainable energy projects. This week, the city of Santa Cruz expressed support for letting its municipal waste water be used in a pilot demonstration project in the Pacific Ocean, Trent said. The project also is under consideration for an $800,000 alternative energy grant from the state of California.

这个概念已经在实验室里进行可行性实验了，得到了美国宇航局谷歌公司专项可持续能源计划40万美元的部分支持。Trent表示，Santa Cruz市也于本周表示愿意将他们的城市废水用于一项在太平洋上的示范性试验项目。这项计划同时也在另一项加州80万美金的能源拨款考虑之中。

"The big problem is going to be scaling it up ... and figuring out how to deal with storms at sea," Trent said.

Trent说：“未来的大问题是成规模种植......还要制定出对付海上风浪的方案。”

"But this country is good at engineering things," he added. "To quote Harry Truman, 'There's no limit to what you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit.'"

他又说到：“但这个国家工程实力是很强的，杜鲁门总统曾经说过‘当荣誉不属于某个个体时，所能获得的成就是无穷的’。”

An offshore algae farm could have some serious environmental issues, points out Carmela Cuomo, a marine scientist at the University of New Haven in Connecticut who is researching algae strains for biofuel use.

康涅狄克州纽黑文大学专攻海藻菌株生物能用途的水文学家Carmela Cuomo指出，海中的海藻养殖场可能会产生很严重的环境问题。

"I'm not knocking the idea, but I'd want to know a lot more about it," she told Discovery News.

她接受探索新闻采访时说：“我不是不看好这个想法，但是我必须对它有更深入的研究和认识，才能做出更加准确的判断。”

Cuomo said waste water that has been treated enough to be dumped into the ocean probably wouldn't have enough nutrients for algae to thrive, and untreated waste water could pose a threat if the membrane should rip. She also pointed out that the algae farms would have to be fairly close to the ocean's surface for sunlight to penetrate, which could be an issue for boaters.

Cuomo认为这种方法完全处理过的废水将不再含有足够海藻生存的养分，而且如果薄膜破裂，还没有处理的废水将会对环境有危害。她还提到这些海藻牧场必须得十分靠近海洋表面以获得足够的阳光，从而得到生长。可是这样做的话对于小船在海上的顺利航行又是一大问题。

The main problem with algae, whether grown on land or sea, is how to get enough of it. "To be able to replace a Shell (Oil Co.), you're going to need a lot of algae."

其实不论是种在海上还是陆地上，海藻最大的问题是如何才能获得足够的量。“得需要极多的海藻才能替代一家壳牌机油。”