In one of the first studies to examine the potential for using municipal wastewater as a feedstock for algae-based biofuels, scientists found they could grow high-value strains of oil-rich algae while simultaneously removing more than 90 percent of nitrates and more than 50 percent of phosphorous from wastewater. Wastewater treatment facilities currently have no cost-effective means of removing large volumes of nitrates or phosphorus from treated water, so algae production with wastewater has the potential of solving two problems at once, said a study co-author.