Algae culturing using different forms of inorganic carbon.
The cultivation of algae for fuel offers an alternative to fossil fuel. A research project by Pittman and colleagues found the cultivation of algae is promising for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and energy costs. What’s more, is algae cultivation produces large amounts of biomass and are some of the quickest growing photosynthetic organisms, which is ideal for biofuel synthesizing. Algae can grow on most mediums such as sewage or seawater.
The goal of this project was to measure the effects of total inorganic carbon concentration (delivered as “house air” and solid HCO3) on the growth rate for Chlorella. This was carried out by growing Chlorella algae in reactors in the Bucknell Environmental Engineering and Studies Laboratory. Both Bold Basal’s Medium and a modified version which included sodium bicarbonate were used to provide the algae with nutrition. “House air” was used in both experiments and each was run for approximately seven days.
The tests that were conducted are as follows: pH; carbon; nitrogen; and hydrogen percentages; optical density; nitrate; reactive phosphorus; total suspended solids; volatile suspended solids; and total inorganic carbon. The optical density test concludes that the algae grows faster with a partial amount of CO2 and HCO3 than with just a partial amount of CO2. The nitrate and phosphorus tests conclude that this method uses less nitrogen and accumulates more reactive phosphorus. However, TSS and VSS seem to tell a different story of less solids in the bicarbonate grown algae reactors.