Microalgae: The Potential for Carbon Capture

There is growing recognition that microalgae are among the most productive biological systems for generating biomass and capturing carbon. Further efficiencies are gained by harvesting 100% of the biomass, much more than is possible in terrestrial biomass production systems. Microalgae's ability to transport bicarbonate into cells makes them well suited to capture carbon. Carbon dioxide or'bicarbonate-capturing efficiencies as high as 90% have been reported in open ponds. The scale of microalgal production facilities necessary to capture carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions from stationary point sources such as power stations and cement kilns is also manageable; thus, microalgae can potentially be exploited for CO2 capture and sequestration. In this article, I discuss possible strategies using microalgae to sequester CO2 with reduced environmental consequences.