As smokestack emissions are delivered to the algae bioreactor, carbon dioxide and other pollutants are absorbed and utilized by the algae to grow at an exponential rate.
This so-called "grasshopper effect" keeps the highly toxic substance circulating as "legacy emissions" that, combined with new smokestack emissions, can extend the environmental effects of mercury for decades.
A series of waste heat recovery projects turn the plant's smokestack emissions into clean electricity and useful steam -- utilizing an energy source that would otherwise simply be vented.