CHEE Researcher Takes Algae from Sea to Sky as Fuel for Jet Engines

CHEE Researcher Takes Algae from Sea to Sky as Fuel for Jet Engines
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An interdisciplinary team of researchers led by professor of chemical and environmental engineering Kimberly Ogden is developing new uses for algae, from food to fuel.

Experts predict there will be around nine billion people on the earth by 2025. Ogden believes algae holds the key to providing an environmentally sustainable response to such growth. 

As director of the University of Arizona's Institute for Energy Solutions, she is working with UA students and faculty to analyze the green goods. To make fuel, for example, they extract the fatty, oily parts from the algae and turn them into something very similar to kerosene.

"My passion for working on problems to help a variety of different types of people from all different cultures and backgrounds has turned into doing research that can help both energy and food production," said Ogden. "I like to make a difference, and it's really cool to see that we can make progress and solve problems."

Ogden's algae research is supported by funds from the United States Department of Energy.

For more information, please contact:

Kimberly Ogden
Director, UA Institute for Energy Solutions
Harshbarger 108C
520.621.9484
ogden@email.arizona.edu