Large-Scale Algae Cultivation for Carbon Capture & Utilization, and Waste-Water Treatment

Algae and cyanobacteria are diverse groups of photosynthetic microorganisms that have gained significant attention for their potential applications in carbon capture and wastewater treatment. Algae can absorb CO2 during photosynthesis and convert it into biomass, which can be harvested for valuable components including lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, pigments, and antioxidants. These biomass components then could be used for various applications, including biofuels, animal feeds, nutraceuticals, or other bio-products. Algae can also absorb and assimilate potentially deleterious chemical compounds through various phytoremediation processes, which makes them valuable for wastewater treatment. Thus, these remarkable organisms offer a sustainable and environmentally friendly solution to address two pressing global challenges: climate change and water pollution. <br> <br> <div> The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC) has been conducting a wide range of algae research activities from lab- to pilot-scale, for applications like Carbon Capture &amp; Utilization, Wastewater treatment, Bio-fuel production, etc. UIUC is leading a front-end engineering design (FFED) study for a 21st century power plant at City Water, Light &amp; Power (CWLP) in Springfield, Illinois, in which a large-scale algae cultivation system is being developed to utilize CO2 from the power plant. This project (DE-FE0031995) is sponsored by US Department of Energy (DOE) and the algae sub-system is developed by collaborating with Global Algae Innovations (GAI), which is one of the leading equipment suppliers for the algae industry that has been funded extensively by the DOE for the scale-up of algae cultivation systems for a variety of applications. <br> <br> </div> <div> The project team is designing a 1600-acre open raceway pond system for capturing and utilizing 5-10% of CO2 emitted from the power plant. A slipstream of flue gas after desulphurization will be taken from power plant’s main stack to a carbon capture system, which consists of counter-current packed bed absorbers that capture CO2 by converting aqueous Na2CO3 to NaHCO3, also known as carbonated media, which will be stored and then distributed to algal raceway ponds (in precise quantities) through a network of pipelines. Municipal wastewater will also be supplied to the algae system through pipelines along with some additional fertilizers, which support algae growth by providing necessary nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus, etc. The algal biomass will be harvested using GAI’s Zobi harvester® and then transferred to a drying and extraction system, where the harvested algae paste will be further dewatered and sent for additional processing that extracts high value bioproducts. </div>