Developing economically feasible algal integrated system to Ben-Amotz Ami In the last century commercial applied phycology was developed as a source of alternative food mainly in the Far East with attention on four algae, Chlorella, Spirulina, Dunaliella and Haematococcus and on their high nutritional ingredients including Chlorella Growth Factor (CGF), natural beta-carotene, natural astaxanthin, essential amino acids, W-3 fatty acids and certain minerals. At the present century the global increasing combustion of fossil oil for energy associated with enormous CO2 pollution and global warming introduced new attention in algae for both bio-energy and carbon capture. A major line of interest focuses on electric power plants, refineries and chemical industries which discharge high amount of flue gases some toxic. Advanced modern scrubbing technology reduces by tenfold the level of toxic SO2 while keeping the content of CO2 in the coal burning flue gas no change at above 12%. Present coal burning power plants transfer flue gases through lime and convert the SO2 into gypsum with liberation of distinctive mist of CO2, NOx, metals and moisture to the atmosphere. The demand to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere opened a few options where algal biosolar energy conversion and photosynthesis stay in the front with the option to cultivate and produce mass quantities of marine unicellular algae for bio-fuel in desert lands on Seambiotic Ltd., an Israeli company in collaboration with the Israeli Electric Corporation was the first to confirm and patented the application of flue gas emitted and scrubbed from power plant smokestack for successful cultivation of microalgae. Continuous cultivation over the last 6 years yielded high yields of selected marine microalgae members of the classes Chlorophyceae, Eustigmatophyceae and Bacillariophyceae. The algal pilot plant compared coal burning flue gas with pure CO2 and showed higher algal biomass productivity by the flue gas. The yearly average productivity approached the upper practical biosolar energy conversion of 3% with high transfer of the CO2 into algal biomass of above 5 g/g at 1.82 moles CO2/m2/day. Calculated ratios of coal, oil or natural gas burning flue gas volume to areal productivity are around 300, 600 and 1,000 L/m2/day respectively considering alkalinity, pH, temperature, light hours and gas bubbling depth. The option of fixing solar energy into algal biomass by flue gases opens the question of feasible and efficient application of CO2 mass transfer in the culture medium. The Israeli knowhow and expertise led to joint venture activity with Yantai Hairong Electricity Technology Ltd and construction of a new large scale commercial plant in Penglai, Shandong China. The plant in Penglai of 10 hectares is the first to cultivate marine unicellular algae on flue gas and other wastes of electric power plant as a test for commercial feasible production of feed, food and bio-fuels. CO2 assimilation by large scale autotrophic cultivation of marine microalgae is a challenge as the most feasible option for global carbon capture. |