CULTIVATION OF MICROALGAE FOR BIO OIL PRODUCTION AND CARBON DIOXIDE REMOVAL

The use of fossil fuel is now widely accepted as unsustainable due to
depleting resource and the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the environment that
have already exceeded the dangerously high threshold of 450ppm COre. To achieve
environmental and economic sustainability, fuel production processes are required
not only renewable but also capable of sequestering atmospheric COz. Microalgae
are a versatile field due to its wide range of application and industries. It has been
investigated that microalgae can be used for the production of a number of products
ranging from fuel, pharmaceutical, food and health. In the fields of fuel and energy
only microalgae can be used to produce biodiesel, bio-oil, bio-syngas and biohydrogen.
Not limited by that, the production of microalgae can be couple with C02
mitigation and wastewater treatment. Development in microalgae cultivation and
downstream processes are expected to further enhance cost effectiveness of the
biofuel from microalgae. This research entitled "Cultivation of microalgae for biooil
production and C02 removal" is done to investigate and to develop a
microalgae cultivation system with the aim to improve the C02 removal and fixation
during the cultivation of microalgae. The main objective of this research is to study
on the cultivation technique(s) of microalgae specifically bioreactor, the C02
utilization of the system, potential species of microalgae system for both bio-oil
production and C02 removal system as well as the optimum growth condition for
cultivation of microalgae. The scope of study will be narrowed down to the growth
rate and survival of microalgae species, utilization of wild algae for the mentioned
purposes, the use of microalgae as biomass, the different technique for the
production of microalgae and the C02 utilization technique using monoculture as
well as mix-culture.