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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.
藻类可自然产生油料。当对这种油料进行加工时，其可转化为生物燃料——这也是一种替代能源。但是，这种获取燃料的方式还存在一个障碍：从充斥着藻类的水中收集油料的成本是极其昂贵的。但如今研究者们已找到了一个令人欢欣鼓舞的解决办法：使用小于人体毛发宽度的微小气泡可降低获取藻类油料所产生的成本。
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.
所谓的微气泡已用于水净化领域——这种微气泡可以包住污染物并使它们从水中流出。与此类似，在充斥藻类的水中，微气泡可使藻类浮到水面上，从而易于藻类的收集和加工。
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.
这项研究建立在以往的工作之上——以前使用微气泡使藻类生长得更密集以此来提高产量。然而，这一次研究人员发明了新方法，耗费很少的能量，花费很少的设备安装成本，就可产生大量的微气泡。这项研究刊登在《生物技术和生物工程》杂志上。
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.
虽然微气泡在实验室条件下可以提高藻类的收集，但要想这项技术得到大规模的应用，还需假以时日。研究人员正计划设立一个藻类生物燃料试点工厂，以期获得真正的绿色能源。
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