Challenges faced in CO2 Capture using Algae
While algae-based carbon capture offer the potential to provide sustainable solutions for alternative biofuels and CO2 mitigation, important challenges must be overcome to make them cost-effective and economically sustainable.
Unlike terrestrial crops that have been cultivated and harvested for centuries, the infrastructure and knowledge needed to cultivate and harvest algae using industrial processes is in a pre-commercial stage of development. Within the discipline of plant biotechnology, algal research is one of the least explored fields and industrial-scale algae energy systems will benefit greatly from intense R&D efforts.
Though intermittent investments and progress has been made in recent decades, the potential of algae energy systems has yet to be fully realized and recycling carbon through industrial or agricultural algae energy systems that simultaneously produce biofuels is a relatively new concept.
Clearly-defined goals and significant, well-managed and critical investments are needed in the following areas:
• Carbon life-cycle analysisUnlike terrestrial crops that have been cultivated and harvested for centuries, the infrastructure and knowledge needed to cultivate and harvest algae using industrial processes is in a pre-commercial stage of development. Within the discipline of plant biotechnology, algal research is one of the least explored fields and industrial-scale algae energy systems will benefit greatly from intense R&D efforts.
Though intermittent investments and progress has been made in recent decades, the potential of algae energy systems has yet to be fully realized and recycling carbon through industrial or agricultural algae energy systems that simultaneously produce biofuels is a relatively new concept.
Clearly-defined goals and significant, well-managed and critical investments are needed in the following areas:
• CO2 delivery and conditioning
• Integration and systems engineering
• Strain optimization and optimization
• Energy and water use
• Algal areal and volumetric productivity
• Cultivation system design
• Synthetic biology
• Downstream processing
• Value-added co-products development
The challenges of algae-based CO2 capture are explained in the subsequent pages.
Algae CCS
Peer reviewed research articles
- Evaluation of strategies for the subsequent use of CO2 (Schaefer et al., 2009) Read More
- Progress in carbon dioxide separation and capture: a review. (Yang et al., 2008) Read More
- Sequestration of CO2 discharged from anode by algal cathode in microbial carbon capture cells (MCCs) (Wang et al., 2010) Read More
Patents
- Using Closed Photobioreactors for Algae-based CO2 Capture (James Sears, 2007)
- Biodiesel Production from Algae with high carbon dioxide utilization (Hazlebeck et al., 2010)
- Coupling Waste water treatment and CO2 capture using high carbon-dioxide tolerant Algae Species: Chlorella( Hu et.al, 2010)
