Air Flue has designed, developed, and tested at scale an efficient, consistent method for growing microalgae-based biomass that provides an economic and environmentally friendly approach of overcoming the problem of fossil emissions through fixation into biomass.
Microalgae is a natural resource that reduces greenhouse gas emissions. The combustion of fossil fuels produces byproducts, such as carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, sulfur dioxide (SOx), nitrogen oxides (NOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and heavy metals.
Photosynthesis has long been recognized as a means to capture anthropogenic carbon dioxide. Photosynthesis is the original process that created the fixed carbon present in today’s fossil fuels.
Aquatic microalgae are among the fastest growing photosynthetic organisms on earth, having carbon fixation rates an order of magnitude higher than those of land plants. Microalgae utilize CO2 as one of their main building blocks providing algal photosynthesis to be a viable option for anthropogenic flue gas capture and mitigation while providing a significant increase in algal growth rates.
NOx can be utilized as a nitrogen source to promote microalgae growth when it dissolves and is oxidized. In addition to the removal of SOx, NOx and CO2, using microalgae to remove heavy metals from flue gas is also quite attractive.
The use of microalgae for simultaneous removal of CO2, SOx, and NOx from flue gas is an environmentally benign process with the resulting algae biomass potentially available as feedstock for biofuels, bio-based chemicals, animal, and aquatic feeds.
Rather than move Flue Gas carbon dioxide to long-term storage, biological fixation removes it from from earth's atmosphere. The only byproduct is oxygen, which is released into the atmosphere as a nutrient.
