A combined cycle power plant located in the Spanish region of Andalusia is to host the demonstration of a novel technology that uses carbon dioxide to produce microalgae for use in a variety of industrial sectors.
The CO2 fixing plant will be developed at Iberdrola’s Arcos de la Frontera power plant by Algaenergy, a specialist in microalgae biotechnology. It will take CO2 directly from the power plant’s exhaust and is expected to produce over 100 000 kg/year of biomass.
The €3 million project is called CO2Algaefix and is part of an EU-run programme that aims to encourage research into biofuel development. Other participants in the project include Exeleria, the Universities of Seville and Almería, the Andalusian Energy Agency and the Madrid Network Biotechnology Cluster.
The biomass obtained from the CO2 fixing plant’s microalgae strains could be used to produce biofuel, and could also be of interest and use for sectors such as fish farming, cosmetics, healthcare and agriculture. The plant will absorb around 200 tonnes per year of CO2. Construction is expected to start early in 2012. It will cover an area of 10 000 m2, says Iberdrola and should be fully operational by late 2013.
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