Novel photosynthetic CO2 bioconvertor based on green algae entrapped in low-sodium silica gels

A photosynthetic bioreactor for CO2 assimilation has been designed using silica sol-gel immobilisation technologies with the chlorophyta Botryococcus braunii (Kutzing) and Chlorella vulgaris (Beijerinck). The living hybrid gels formed revealed a mesoporosity that enabled diffusion of nutrients and gases, promoting the light and dark photosynthetic reactions from within the bulk of the material. To determine the efficiency of the photosynthetic bioreactor in terms of CO2 remediation, the activity and viability of the encapsulated cells have been monitored through oximetry, C-14 assimilation, pulse amplitude modulation fluorimetry and confocal microscopy, revealing a long term productivity of living hybrid materials capable of photosynthetic processes for at least 80 days. Structural and textural properties of the gels were established through Si-29 MASNMR and N-2 physisorption respectively.