Inventure Chemical and Seambiotic have announced a joint venture to create a pilot commercial plant which will use algae to produce an array of chemicals and biofuels. The plant uses CO₂ as feedstock for the algae. Inventure Chemicals comes into the partnership with knowledge about second-generation biofuel manufacturing, as it has facilities in operation in Seattle, and Seambiotic brings its newly developed strains of microalgae.

These microalgae were developed a process that they call "algae CO₂ sequestering" in which the strains were fed with exhaust fumes from their power generator's fumes, giving important yields in algae rich in carbohydrates and fatty acids. The carbs can be used to produce ethanol while the fatty acids can be made into biodiesel. This allows Seambiotic to state that their process not only produces biofuels but also can help coal-fired power generators to meet CO₂ reduction mandates. This method could potentially use the self-generated biofuel to make these generators work, closing the loop.

[Source: Seambiotic]

French company Tyca, which usually works on aquarium and aquiculture projects, has announced the development of lamps that could capture CO₂. The lamps are actually a sort of aquarium made of transparent walls that hold microscopic algae that eat CO₂ and use solar light to produce O₂, like plants. These algae are bioluminescent, which means they produce light. According to the company, one kilogram of these microalgae capture two kilograms of CO₂, which means that one of these lamps, which holds 1.5 m³ of these algae could capture up to one ton of CO₂ per year. They can even work under artificial light, which makes them suitable for parking lots. Science fiction? Only time will tell.

[Source: Tyca via Planet Forever]