In my previous post I mentioned my Spirulina farm. I chanced upon Spirulina a long time ago while doing research on Algae and sustainable resources. Algae is an interesting product. It is often thought that petroleum is produced by dead dinosaurs. In fact, Algae is the largest contributor to our petroleum reserves. In fact, there are very simply ways to convert Algae in biofuel at home.

Spirulina is often mistaken for microalgae because of its ability to photosynthesize. It is in fact cyanobacteria. Algae are small unicellular organisms whereas cyanobacteria are multi-cellular organisms and larger in size. Algae being a eukaryote, have a nucleus, mitochondria, and a chloroplast within each cell. They also have an eye with which they detect and identify light source and capture light in order to produce energy.

Spirulina contains more than half its weight in protein, and is considered a superfood due to the variety of nutrients it contains. Coupled with its ability to sequester carbon, it presents itself as an excellent product for farming and is a truly sustainable resource.

I started a home farm awhile back to understand the process of producing and collecting Spirulina. With a 60L tank, I am able to extract a decent amount of product each week. Spirulina grows fast! In my next post, I’ll describe the process of extraction and preservation of the product.