The potential of carbon dioxide capture and sequestration with algae

Abstract Algae are generally accepted as an excellent option for greenhouse gas control, but the ecological niche of algal CO2 bio-fixation is not completely understood today. This study showed an excellent CO2 uptake rate of 159 mgL−1day−1 and CO2 consumption efficiency of 93% in comparison to the continuously stirred tank reactor (178 mgL−1day−1 and 96%). Thus, the experimental ecosystem that imitated the freshwater algal niche had a similar CO2 uptake performance to the artificial ideal mixing reactor prototype. To investigate terrestrial plants as a carbon sink, we compared CO2 fixation rates among species, geographic areas, plant ages, and lignin contents; in the tropical zone, forest plantations had higher growth rates, higher lignin content, and higher CO2 uptake rates. In addition, natural forests and old plantations had the highest CO2 consumption efficiency. Furthermore, we found that algae had the highest CO2 uptake rates and CO2 consumption efficiency, a characteristic that is not found in other plants. Therefore, algae were able to accumulate large carbon stores within a short period of time and were able to play a critical role as a biological sink in the carbon cycle.

[1]  Daniel B. Botkin,et al.  Environmental Science: Earth as a Living Planet , 1995 .

[2]  Young Soo Kim,et al.  Review: A chance for Korea to advance algal-biodiesel technology , 2009 .

[3]  Oliver Bens,et al.  Carbon sequestration and forest management , 2007 .

[4]  H. Mooney,et al.  Comparative Photosynthetic Capacities of Intertidal Algae under Exposed and Submerged Conditions , 1974 .

[5]  Jana E. Compton,et al.  FOREST ECOSYSTEM CARBON AND NITROGEN ACCUMULATION DURING THE FIRST CENTURY AFTER AGRICULTURAL ABANDONMENT , 2003 .

[6]  H. Ouyang,et al.  Soil Carbon Changes Following Afforestation with Olga Bay Larch (Larix olgensis Henry) in Northeastern China , 2006 .

[7]  J. Rencoret,et al.  Evaluation of the Chemical Composition of Different Non-Woody Plant Fibers Used for Pulp and Paper Manufacturing , 2010 .

[8]  W. C. Johnson,et al.  Phytomass and detrital carbon storage during forest regrowth in the southeastern United States Piedmont , 1989 .

[9]  Teresa M. Mata,et al.  Microalgae for biodiesel production and other applications: A review , 2010 .

[10]  Paris Honglay Chen,et al.  Freshwater microalgae niche of air carbon dioxide mitigation , 2014 .

[11]  Paris Honglay Chen,et al.  An exploration of the relationships between microalgae biomass growth and related environmental variables. , 2014, Journal of photochemistry and photobiology. B, Biology.

[12]  C. Kayouli,et al.  Chemical and biological characterisation of some woody species browsed by goats in the North-West of Tunisia , 2004 .

[13]  J. Smith,et al.  Predicting growth and sequestration of carbon by plantations growing in regions of low-rainfall in southern Australia , 2008 .

[14]  T. J. Lundquist,et al.  Methane fermentation, submerged gas collection, and the fate of carbon in advanced integrated wastewater pond systems , 1995 .

[15]  C. Périé,et al.  Changes in organic carbon storage in a 50 year white spruce plantation chronosequence established on fallow land in Quebec , 2006 .

[16]  Paris Honglay Chen,et al.  Carbon dioxide fixation of freshwater microalgae growth on natural water medium , 2015 .

[17]  L. Vesterdal,et al.  CARBON SEQUESTRATION IN SOIL AND BIOMASS FOLLOWING AFFORESTATION: EXPERIENCES FROM OAK AND NORWAY SPRUCE CHRONOSEQUENCES IN DENMARK, SWEDEN AND THE NETHERLANDS , 2007 .

[18]  Robert J. Scholes,et al.  The Carbon Cycle and Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide , 2001 .

[19]  Paris Honglay Chen,et al.  Biomass of algae growth on natural water medium. , 2015, Journal of photochemistry and photobiology. B, Biology.

[20]  W. Oswald.  Ponds in the twenty-first century , 1995 .

[21]  D. F. Grigal,et al.  Changes in ecosystem carbon storage over 40 years on an old-field/forest landscape in east-central Minnesota , 1996 .

[22]  Yunqiao Pu,et al.  Biomass characterization of Buddleja davidii: a potential feedstock for biofuel production. , 2009, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.

[23]  Ernst-Detlef Schulze,et al.  Carbon dynamics in successional and afforested spruce stands in Thuringia and the Alps , 2006 .

[24]  K. Kuroda,et al.  Analysis of rice (Oryza sativa L.) lignin by pyrolysis-gas chromatography , 1995 .

[25]  Mark W. Denny,et al.  Discovery of Lignin in Seaweed Reveals Convergent Evolution of Cell-Wall Architecture , 2009, Current Biology.

[26]  Perry L. McCarty,et al.  Chemistry for environmental engineering and science , 2002 .

[27]  E. Schulze,et al.  Carbon stocks and soil respiration rates during deforestation, grassland use and subsequent Norway spruce afforestation in the Southern Alps, Italy. , 2000, Tree physiology.

[28]  S. Trumbore,et al.  Rapid accumulation and turnover of soil carbon in a re-establishing forest , 1999, Nature.

[29]  A. E. Greenberg,et al.  Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater : supplement to the sixteenth edition , 1988 .

[30]  Rodel D. Lasco,et al.  Carbon dioxide (CO2) storage and sequestration of land cover in the Leyte Geothermal Reservation , 2002 .

[31]  H. Attia,et al.  Chemical composition and functional properties of Ulva lactuca seaweed collected in Tunisia , 2011, Food Chemistry.