Carbon dioxide fixation and biomass production with blue-green algae Spirulina platensis

Publisher Summary In photoautotrophic culture of microalgae, CO2 is a sole carbon source for the growth. CO2 supplied to the suspension culture of microalgae is first dissolved to the medium and utilized by the cells. In usual culture operation of microalgae, gas mixture containing CO2 is continuously supplied to the medium. As CO2 supply rate is more than CO2 consumption rate by the cells, most of supplied CO2 escapes to the atmosphere. In this chapter, with the regulation of gas supply rate, the efficiency of CO2 utilization by the cells is improved. In microalgal cells, CO2 is fixed as organic compounds such as protein, sugars, and lipids. For the purpose of fixation and utilization of CO2 in the exhaust gas from thermal power generation, a basic research of biological CO2 fixation process using microalgae was carried out.