Abstract
Microalgae-mediated CO2 sequestration has been a subject of numerous research works and has become one of the most promising strategies to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions. However, feeding flue and exhaust gas into algae-based systems has been shown to destroy chloroplasts, as well as disrupt photosynthesis and other metabolic processes in microalgae, which directly limits CO2 uptake. CO2 biosequestration in existing photobioreactors (PBRs) is also limited by the low biomass concentration in the growth medium. Therefore, there is a real need to seek alternative solutions that would be competitive in terms of performance and cost-effectiveness. The present paper reports the results of experiments aimed to develop an innovative trickle bed reactor that uses immobilized algae to capture CO2 from flue and exhaust gas (IMC-CO2PBR). In the experiment, ambient air enriched with technical-grade CO2 to a CO2 concentration of 25% v/v was used. The microalgae immobilization technology employed in the experiment produced biomass yields approximating 100 g DM/dm3. A relationship was found between CO2 removal rates and gas volume flux: almost 40% of CO2 was removed at a feed of 25 dm3 of gas per hour, whereas in the 200 dm3/h group, the removal efficiency amounted to 5.9%. The work includes a determination of basic process parameters, presentation of a developed functional model and optimized lighting system, proposals for components to be used in the system, and recommendations for an automation and control system for a full-scale implementation.
Highlights
The Chlorella vulgaris immobilization technology used in the experiment produced high-volume biomass yields of approximately 100 g DM/dm3
The microalgae growth rates ranged from 21.4 g to 32.3 g DM/dm3 ·d (Table 2)
The microalgae (Chlorella vulgaris) immobilization technology used in the experiment produced high-volume biomass yields of approximately 100 g DM/dm3
Summary
There have been promising studies on fixing CO2 in algae growth and cultivation systems, indicating that the technology may potentially be used to curb the emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants present in flue/exhaust gas [2,3,4]. Microalgae immobilization technology enables increased productivity, which reduces production costs [14]. This solution published maps and institutional affiliations. Protects microalgae against predators and toxic pollutants Different polymeric media, such as alginate, chitosan, and carrageenan, are used for gel entrapment of microalgae immobilization [15]. In alginate-gel beads obtained a biomass concentration of 1.78 g/dm3 [18].
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