Colorado State leads $2.1 million DOE project to improve CO2 utilization of algae

In Colorado, though algal biofuels are a more sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, there remains room to improve the production of the algae used to create them.

Researchers at Colorado State University are leading a $2.1 million project that aims to increase algae yield by improving carbon dioxide utilization. The three-year project is part of an effort led by the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy to improve the cost-competitiveness and environmental sustainability of microalgae-based fuels and products. A team of five faculty members at Colorado State University and three researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will collaborate to achieve the project goals of 1) improving delivery of CO2 to algae and 2) enhancing algae’s consumption of the CO2.

The project is also a partnership with two companies. New Belgium Brewing will provide CO2 from their fermentation processes, and Qualitas Health, a company that produces omega-3 nutraceuticals from algae, will help test the improved CO2 delivery technology at their cultivation site in Imperial, Texas.