Open AccessRECOVERY AND SEQUESTRATION OF CO{sub 2} FROM STATIONARY COMBUSTION SYSTEMS BY PHOTOSYNTHESIS OF MICROALGAE
Author(s) -
Takashi Nakamura
Publication year - 2004
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/824048
Subject(s) - carbon sequestration , environmental science , fossil fuel , carbon dioxide , biomass (ecology) , combustion , carbon capture and storage (timeline) , photosynthesis , coal , alkalinity , carbon fibers , waste management , ecology , chemistry , engineering , climate change , materials science , biology , biochemistry , organic chemistry , composite number , composite material
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 October to 31 December 2003 in which PSI, Aquasearch and University of Hawaii conducted their tasks. Based on the work during the previous reporting period, Aquasearch run first pilot scale production run with coal combustion gas to microalgae. Aquasearch started the second full scale carbon sequestration tests with propane combustion gases. Aquasearch also conducted modeling work to study the change in alkalinity in the medium resulting form microalgal photosynthesis and growth. University of Hawaii continued effort on system optimization of the CO{sub 2} sequestration system