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Energy source

Algae are processed to make various chemical fuels.

Algae fuel, Biological hydrogen production, Biohydrogen, Biodiesel, Ethanol fuel, Butanol fuel, and Vegetable fats and oils

Fertilizer

Seaweed is used as a fertilizer.For centuries seaweed has been used as a fertilizer; George Owen of Henllys writing in the 16th century referring to drift weed in South Wales

This kind of ore they often gather and lay on great heapes, where it heteth and rotteth, and will have a strong and loathsome smell; when being so rotten they cast on the land, as they do their muck, and thereof springeth good corn, especially barley ... After spring-tydes or great rigs of the sea, they fetch it in sacks on horse backes, and carie the same three, four, or five miles, and cast it on the lande, which doth very much better the ground for corn and grass.

Today Algae are used by humans in many ways; for example, as fertilizers, soil conditioners and livestock feed.Aquatic and microscopic species are cultured in clear tanks or ponds and are either harvested or used to treat effluents pumped through the ponds. Algaculture on a large scale is an important type of aquaculture in some places. Maerl is commonly used as a soil conditioner.


Nutrition

Seaweed gardens on Inisheer.Naturally growing seaweeds are an important source of food, especially in Asia. They provide many vitamins including: A, B1, B2, B6, niacin and C, and are rich in iodine, potassium, iron, magnesium and calcium.[49] In addition commercially cultivated microalgae, including both Algae and Cyanobacteria, are marketed as nutritional supplements, such as Spirulina, Chlorella and the Vitamin-C supplement, Dunaliella, high in beta-carotene.

Algae are national foods of many nations: China consumes more than 70 species, including fat choy, a cyanobacterium considered a vegetable; Japan, over 20 species;[51] Ireland, dulse; Chile, cochayuyo.Laver is used to make "laver bread" in the British Isles; in Korea, gim; in Japan, nori and aonori. It is also used along the west coast of North America from California to British Columbia, in Hawaii and by the Maoris of New Zealand. Sea lettuce and badderlocks are a salad ingredient in Scotland, Ireland, Greenland and Iceland.


Dulse, a food.The oils from some Algae have high levels of unsaturated fatty acids. For example, Arachidonic acid is very high in Parietochloris incisa, where it reaches up to 47% of the triglyceride pool.Some varieties of Algae favored by vegetarianism and veganism contain the long-chain, essential omega-3 fatty acids, Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), in addition to vitamin B12. Fish oil contains the omega-3 fatty acids, but the original source is algae, which are eaten by marine life such as copepods and are passed up the food chain

Pollution control
Sewage can be treated with algae, reducing the need for greater amounts of toxic chemicals than are already used.
Algae can be used to capture fertilizers in runoff from farms. When subsequently harvested, the enriched algae itself can be used as fertilizer.
Algae Bioreactors are used by some powerplants to reduce CO2 emissions.

Pigments
The natural pigments produced by algae can be used as an alternative to chemical dyes and coloring agents


Stabilizing substances
Carrageenan, from the red alga Chondrus crispus, is used as a stabiliser in milk products.
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Human ingenuity has found many uses for algae. Algae provide food for people and livestock, serve as thickening agents in ice cream and shampoo, and are used as drugs to ward off diseases. More than 150 species of algae are commercially important food sources, and over $2 billion of seaweed is consumed each year by humans, mostly in Japan, China, and Korea. The red alga Porphyra, called nori, is the most popular food product. After harvesting, nori is dried, pressed into sheets, and used in soups, sauces, sushi, and condiments. Algae are considered nutritious because of their high protein content and high concentrations of minerals, trace elements, and vitamins. The high iodine content of many edible algae may contribute to the low rates of goiter observed in countries where people frequently eat algae.

In coastal areas of North America and Europe, seaweeds are fed to farm animals as a food supplement. Cyanobacteria species that are high in protein, such as Spirulina, are grown commercially in ponds and used mostly as a health food and cattle dietary supplement. Seaweeds also are applied to soils as a fertilizer and soil conditioner, as their high concentrations of potassium and trace elements improve crop production. Some species of cyanobacteria can turn atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia, a form that can then be used by plants as a nutrient. Farmers in tropical countries grow cyanobacteria in their flooded rice paddies to provide more nitrogen to the rice, increasing productivity as much as tenfold.

Seaweeds are a critical source of three chemical extracts used extensively in the food, pharmaceutical, textile, and cosmetic industries. Brown algae yield alginic acid, which is used to stabilize emulsions and suspensions; it is found in products such as syrup, ice cream, and paint. Different species of red algae provide agar and carrageenan, which are used for the preparation of various gels used in scientific research. Bacteria, fungi, and cell cultures are commonly grown on agar gels. Agar is also used in the food industry to stabilize pie fillings and preserve canned meat and fish. Carrageenan is also used as a thickening and stabilizing agent in products such as puddings, syrups, and shampoos.

Algae have been used for centuries, especially in Asian countries, for their purported powers to cure or prevent illnesses as varied as cough, gout, gallstones, goiter, hypertension, and diarrhea. Recently, algae have been surveyed for anticancer compounds, with several cyanobacteria appearing to contain promising candidates. Diatoms also have been used in forensic medicine, as their presence in the lungs can indicate a person died due to drowning.