Enhanced CO2 fixation and biofuel production via microalgae: recent developments and future directions

Kumar, Amit; Ergas, Sarina J.; Yuan, Xin; Sahu, Ashish Kumar; Zhang, Qiong; Dewulf, Jo; Malcata, F. Xavier; Langenhove, Herman Van

doi:10.1016/j.tibtech.2010.04.004

Cited by 610 publications

(292 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…When light is the only limiting factor, microalgal productivity becomes proportional to the light conversion efficiency (Richmond et al, 2003;Kumar et al, 2010). At night, or other dark conditions, photosynthesis cannot occur and the microalgae utilise stored energy for respiration.…”

Section: Lightmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Temperature is one of the major factors that regulate cellular, morphological and physiological responses of microalgae: Higher temperatures generally accelerate the metabolic rates of microalgae, whereas low temperatures lead to inhibition of microalgal growth (Kumar et al, 2010). Towards the North and South poles there is a lower light intensity and temperature, which results in lower biomass productivity.…”

Section: Temperaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Natural dissolution of atmospheric CO 2 into the water is not enough; atmospheric CO 2 levels are at approximately 0.0387%, which are not sufficient to support the high microalgal growth rates and productivities needed for large-scale biofuel production. Usual sources of CO 2 for microalgae are atmospheric CO 2 , CO 2 from industrial exhaust gases (for example flue gas and flaring gas, which typically contain about 4 to 15% of CO 2 ) and CO 2 chemically fixed in the form of soluble carbonates (for example NaHCO 3 and Na 2 CO 3 ) (Kumar et al, 2010). Uptake of these inorganic forms of carbon also has the potential to increase the pH within the cultures (Hansen, 2002).…”

Section: Carbon Dioxide (Co 2 )mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Algae for Africa: Microalgae as a source of food, feed and fuel in Kenya

Moejes¹,

Moejes²

2017

Afr. J. Biotechnol.

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Microalgae are unicellular photosynthetic organisms that inhabit diverse ecological habitats ranging from freshwater and brackish water to seawater and wastewater. They are also especially equipped to thrive in extreme temperatures and pH conditions. Decades of research have highlighted their potential as sources of biofuels, foods, feeds and high-value bio-actives. However, industrial-scale cultivation of microalgae is still not being carried out to its full potential. This review aims to shed light on the potential of microalgal-derived food, feed and fuel in developing countries and to what extent microalgae could be applied to sustainable development efforts with a special focus on Kenya. The Kenyan government has set out a development policy termed 'Kenya Vision 2030' that aims to transform the nation into a newly industrialised country with a high quality of life for all its people by the year 2030. Here we show that, not only does Kenya lie in an optimal geographical region for microalgal cultivation, but that microalgae has the capability to fulfil some of the 'Kenya Vision 2030' goals.

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Section: Lightmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Temperaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Carbon Dioxide (Co 2 )mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Algae for Africa: Microalgae as a source of food, feed and fuel in Kenya

Moejes¹,

Moejes²

2017

Afr. J. Biotechnol.

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“…To this end, a number of studies have been performed to determine the ability of microalgae to withstand the high CO 2 concentrations present in flue gas [6][7][8][9] as well as the potentially toxic accompanying SO x and NO x gases [10][11][12], and screening studies have been conducted to identify algae species that are particularly suited for this type of application [13][14][15]. A limited number of proof-ofconcept studies have also been performed using flue gas from combustion sources such as stationary engines and, in some cases, power plants [5,16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Capture and recycle of industrial CO2 emissions using microalgae

et al. 2016

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A novel cyclic flow photobioreactor (PBR) for the capture and recycle of CO 2 using microalgae was designed and deployed at a coal-fired power plant (Duke Energy's East Bend Station). The PBR was operated continuously during the period May-September 2015, during which algae productivity of typically 0.1-0.2 g/(L day) was obtained. Maximum CO 2 capture efficiency was achieved during peak sunlight hours, the largest recorded CO 2 emission reduction corresponding to a value of 81 % (using a sparge time of 5 s/min). On average, CO 2 capture efficiency during daylight hours was 44 %. The PBR at East Bend Station also served as a secondary scrubber for NO x and SO x , removing on average 41.5 % of the NO x and 100 % of the SO x from the flue gas. The effect of solar availability and self-shading on a rudimentary digital model of the cyclic flow PBR was examined using Autodesk Ecotect Analysis software. Initial results suggest that this is a promising tool for the optimization of PBR layout with respect to the utilization of available solar radiation.

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“…Although many techniques and mechanism researches of the application of microalgae in the biological sequestration of industrial flue gas, including microalgae species selection (Ho et al 2011;Seth and Wangikar 2015), gas capture (Rahaman et al 2011), cultivation and influencing factors (Cheah et al 2015;Pires et al 2012), bioreactor technology (Kumar et al 2010;Niu and Leung 2010), biomass applications (e.g., lipid production) and residual biomass utilization (e.g., anaerobic digestion) (Farrelly et al 2013;Pires et al 2012;Seth and Wangikar 2015;Sialve et al 2009), and synergistic combination of other biological techniques (e.g., wastewater treatment) (Acien Fernandez et al 2012;Wang et al 2008), have been extensively studied and reviewed during the past few years, most of the studies have only focused on CO 2 fixation and utilization by algal biomass. In addition, studies on biological DeNOx (bio-DeNOx) of NOx by using microalgae were limited, although capture of NOx from the flue gases for microalgal cultivation has received increasing interest.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An informatics-based analysis of developments to date and prospects for the application of microalgae in the biological sequestration of industrial flue gas

Zhu

Rong

Chen

et al. 2016

Appl Microbiol Biotechnol

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The excessive emission of flue gas contributes to air pollution, abnormal climate change, global warming, and sea level rises associated with glacial melting. With the ability to utilize NOx as a nitrogen source and to convert solar energy into chemical energy via CO 2 fixation, microalgae can potentially reduce air pollution and relax global warming, while also enhancing biomass and biofuel production as well as the production of high-value-added products. This informatics-based review analyzes the trends in the related literature and in patent activity to draw conclusions and to offer a prospective view on the developments of microalgae for industrial flue gas biosequestration. It is revealed that in recent years, microalgal research for industrial flue gas biosequestration has started to attract increasing attention and has now developed into a hot research topic, although it is still at a relatively early stage, and needs more financial and policy support in order to better understand microalgae and to develop an economically viable process. In comparison with onsite microalgal CO 2 capture, microalgae-based biological DeNOx appears to be a more realistic and attractive alternative that could be applied to NOx treatment.

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Enhanced CO2 fixation and biofuel production via microalgae: recent developments and future directions

Cited by 610 publications

References 61 publications

Algae for Africa: Microalgae as a source of food, feed and fuel in Kenya

Algae for Africa: Microalgae as a source of food, feed and fuel in Kenya

Capture and recycle of industrial CO2 emissions using microalgae

An informatics-based analysis of developments to date and prospects for the application of microalgae in the biological sequestration of industrial flue gas

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