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Supported by a recent $900,000 award from the US Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (
earlier post) researchers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and
Micro BioEngineering, Inc. are developing a process to produce microalgae directly from CO
2 in air at high productivities, thereby decoupling algal growth from CO
2 sources.
Traditional CO2 sources associated with microalgae production, such as flue gases from power plants, are concentrated and not often co-located with land and water sources of sufficient abundance to support large-scale biofuels production. Even when co-located, the cost of CO2 capture is high.
During the two-year project, the PNNL-led team will develop and demonstrate a new process called AlgaeAirFix, designed to overcome the energy intensity limitations associated with current air-CO2 processes. The novel process is estimated to produce up to 2,500 gallons of algal oil a year, meeting DOE microalgae biofuel program goals based on flue gas CO2-grown algae—without the dependency on flue gas.
Research will be conducted at PNNL¡¯s Marine Sciences Laboratory in Sequim, Washington, where AlgaeAirFix will be used to maximize the transfer of CO2 from air into large-scale algal pond cultures using a combination of physical, chemical and biological processes.
Laboratory studies also will be conducted under controlled conditions to provide both a baseline of productivity with current pond designs and operations, and those achieved using the AlgaeAirFix process.