The Algae scrubber is a system designed primarily for cleaning nutrients and pollutants out of water using algal turfs.  An algal turf scrubber (ATS) mimics the algal turfs of a natural coral reef by taking in nutrient rich water from waste streams or natural water sources, and pulsing it over a sloped surface. This surface is coated with a rough plastic membrane or a screen, which allows naturally occurring algal spores to settle and colonize the surface.  Once the algae has been established, it can be harvested every 5–15 days, and can produce 18 metric tons of algal biomass per hectare per year. In contrast to other methods, which focus primarily on a single high yielding species of algae, this method focuses on naturally occurring polycultures of algae.  As such, the lipid content of the algae in an ATS system is usually lower, which makes it more suitable for a fermented fuel product, such as ethanol, methane, or butanol. Conversely, the harvested algae could be treated with a hydrothermal liquefaction process, which would make possible biodiesel, gasoline, and jet fuel production.
There are three major advantages of ATS over other systems. The first advantage is documented higher productivity over open pond systems. The second is lower operating and fuel production costs.  The third is the elimination of contamination issues due to the reliance on naturally occurring algae species.  The projected costs for energy production in an ATS system are $0.75/kg, compared to a photobioreactor which would cost $3.50/kg. Furthermore, due to the fact that the primary purpose of ATS is removing nutrients and pollutants out of water, and these costs have been shown to be lower than other methods of nutrient removal, this may incentivize the use of this technology for nutrient removal as the primary function, with biofuel production as an added benefit.