Most all organic matter can be turned into fertilizer—and algae is no exception. Green plant life in general can easily be composted to produce fertilizers that are high in nitrogen, which is an essential nutrient for plants. Algae in particular contains abundant nitrogen levels, which makes it an ideal source of fertilizer for other types of crops. It can be used on its own to create fertilizer, or it can be mixed into other types of fertilizer as a way to boost the fertilizer’s value.
This means that algae ponds are becoming valuable in the agricultural sector. It’s important to note that these ponds can make use of agricultural wastewater that contains high levels of dissolved nutrients from fertilizer runoff. This not only keeps the runoff out of the environment, but also provides a source of nutrition for the algae. In fact, it is possible to create a closed loop system in which wastewater with fertilizer runoff is used to grow algae, thus producing new fertilizer.
