BiOCO2 -: A multidisciplinary, biological approach using solar energy to capture CO2 while producing H2 and high value products

Many areas of algae technology have developed over the last decades, and there is an established market for products derived from algae, dominated by health food and aquaculture. In addition, the interest for active biomolecules from algae is increasing rapidly. The need for CO2 management, in particular capture and storage is currently an important technological, economical and global political issue and will continue to be so until alternative energy sources and energy carriers diminish the need for fossil fuels. This review summarizes in an integrated manner different technologies for use of algae, demonstrating the possibility of combining different areas of algae technology to capture CO2 and using the obtained algal biomass for various industrial applications thus bringing added value to the capturing and storage processes. Furthermore, we emphasize the use of algae in a novel biological process which produces H-2 directly from solar energy in contrast to the conventional CO2 neutral biological methods. This biological process is a part of the proposed integrated CO2 management scheme. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.