Title:
Microalgae for Energy Production: Between Dream and Reality
Abstract:
Energy is everywhere in our daily life, however fossil resources are limited and therefore to conserve these resources and obtain a more sustainable way of life, there needs to be a smooth transition. For example, our fossil fuel-based production of energy consumes carbon-based molecules and releases carbon dioxide.</p>\r\n<p>Carbon dioxide contains the same carbon backbone as the organic molecules used as a fuel. If we could turn carbon dioxide (CO2) back into methane (CH4) or another alkane (CnHm), this would be a smart way to close the loop and develop more cyclical processes. This is a major challenge because CO2 is like a hyper-rusted carbon, which is very stable, which does not turn back into carbon without a huge energetic or chemical push.
Many trials to chemically turn CO2 back are expensive, less efficient, or hardly scalable. Effective mechanisms such as the natural photosynthesis and unicellular microalgae are the most effective microbiofactories that can be used for this process. In addition, microalgae can deliver the highest proportion of oil, a precursor of liquid fuels like diesel or jet-fuel. However, there are many issues to convert a natural biological mechanism into an industrial process, which will be addressed during this lecture, along with the optimized design of a specific photobioreactor addressing both biological and industrial requirements.
The lecture will address the requirements for an industrial production of microalgae as a source for chemicals and liquid renewable fuels.
Bio:
Presented by Dr. Eric Prouzet, Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Waterloo and Co-Founder of Prodal-G Inc.