(490af) A Techno-Economic Analysis of Carbon Dioxide Bio-Mitigation Using Microalgae

The use of algae as a biological mitigation option to carbon dioxide emissions from coal fired power facilities has been proposed as an alternative (or co-solution) to chemical carbon capture. A conceptual vision of the process would entail the following stages: (1) algae culture, (2) harvested algae dewatering (3) algal biomass drying, and (4) fractionation and separation into identifiable product streams. While acceptable technologies for the individual stages of this process are essentially known, they have as yet not been successfully integrated within the framework of an economically functional system. It is critical to realize that none of these acceptable technologies are developed to the point that they can be considered optimized for immediate incorporation into an algae based bio-mitigation process. To facilitate the integration of these technologies and the intensification of the algae production process, a candid technical and economic analysis of the process has been performed. This techno-economic analysis focuses on verifiable estimations of technical feasibility, cost, and practicality and as such can be used as a foundation and guidepost so that future studies may focus on the process in more accurate detail. New developments will also be discussed.