Mass culture of microalgae on wastewater and gases from sludge burning for production of biomass feedstock for biodiesel

Sustainability is an essential aspect of biobased economy. The development of biofuels, an important component of biobased economy, must conform to sustainable behaviours. The work is centered on development of a new biofuel strategy, in which production of high oil content microalgae for biodiesel fuel is coupled with wastewater treatment and flue gas emission control, and thus provides significant environmental benefits and improves the economic feasibility. The work addresses the two priority areas defined "Development of new biofuel resources or technologies" and "Biofuels, the environment, and the economy", and will involve expertise in multiple areas including algae production, biology, waste treatment, water quality, engineering, biomass processing, and biofuel production. Management of wastewater and associated gaseous emission is very costly and technically challenging. With increasingly stringent regulations and limits on wastewater discharge and gaseous emission, modification of current conventional processes must be made to meet these new limits. These process modifications will require substantial capital investment and would also likely substantially increase operating costs. The present proposed project takes a creative approach in which microalgae is grown on nutrients supplied from wastewater and gaseous emission from wastewater treatment plants, harvested and extracted for oil that is converted to biodiesel fuel. This would create a win-win situation where water and air conditions are preserved while renewable energy is generated. Furthermore, savings/credits from the wastewater and emission treatments will significantly improve the economic feasibility of microalgal biodiesel.