New methodologies for the integration of power plants with algae ponds

Abstract

It is generally recognized that algae could be an interesting option for reducing CO2 emissions. Based on light and CO2, algae can be used for the production various economically interesting products. Current algae cultivation techniques, however, still present a number of limitations. Efficient feeding of CO2, especially on a large scale, is one of them. At TNO, two novel methods have been developed for the integration of flue-gas from power plants with algae production for the capture and utilization of CO2. The first method can be described as being amine based whilst the second is carbonate based. Both methods have in common that algae is used as photochemical desorber of CO2 from absorption liquid. The advantages of these methods is that they are easy to scale-up, would lead to higher CO2 removal efficiencies compared to current CO2 feeding systems for algae, and lower operational cost compared to both conventional CO2 removal using amines and conventional autotrophic algae cultivation. The impact of the new strategies for integrating power plants with algae are described in order to provide more information on their novel aspects and their potential for CO2 mitigation.