Algae-based CO2 capture in cold and humid climate countries

Abstract

Worldwide business sector for biodiesel is balanced for unstable development in the following ten years. Advanced and mature technologies for alternative fuels' production must be brought to the energy market getting competitive to a fossil fuel as soon as possible. Algae is outstanding among all the types of biomass sources (wood, energy crops, straw, fungi, etc.) in its ability to respond to the challenges of the future in terms of renewability, sustainability, availability, high growth and production rates, yield per unit area, being most suitable optimal sources for biofuels of the future and valuable co-products within biorefineries. It is well known that the application and benefits of specific algal biomass types are dependent on geographical location and climate conditions. One of the real alternatives for reducing process costs of algal biofuel production in the humid continental climate countries (Balticcountries, Nordic countries, Canada, etc.) is to use synergistic energy solutions within entire production chain. An example of this could be the carbon dioxide (CO2) added to algae cultivation system in a form of flue gases as a carbon source from the industrial power stations. The opportunity to launch algae cultivation in a coal-fired power plant of 50 MW capacity is analyzed in detail with the energy balance model presented.