Recovery and Sequestration of CO2 from Stationary Combustion Systems by Photosynthesis of Microalgae

Abstract

Most of the anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide result from the combustion of fossil fuels for energy production. Photosynthesis has long been recognized as a means, at least in theory, to sequester anthropogenic carbon dioxide. Aquatic microalgae have been identified as fast growing species whose carbon fixing rates are higher than those of land-based plants by one order of magnitude. Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI), Aquasearch, and the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute at the University of Hawaii are jointly developing technologies for recovery and sequestration of CO{sub 2} from stationary combustion systems by photosynthesis of microalgae. The research is aimed primarily at demonstrating the ability of selected species of microalgae to effectively fix carbon from typical power plant exhaust gases. This report covers the reporting period 1 July to 30 September 2003 in which PSI, Aquasearch and University of Hawaii conducted their tasks. Based on the work during the previous reporting period, Aquasearch and PSI continued preparation work on direct feeding of coal combustion gas to microalgae. Aquasearch started the first full scale carbon sequestration tests with propane combustion gases. Aquasearch started to model the costs associated with biomass harvest from different microalgal strains. University of Hawaii continued effort on system optimization of the CO{sub 2} sequestration system.