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Vattenfall Fires Up Algae Carbon-Capture Pilot Plant in Germany
2010-07-27 09:56:12.119 GMT
By Sally Bakewell
July 27 (Bloomberg New Energy Finance) -- Vattenfall AB,
the Nordic region's biggest utility, has started a pilot carbon-
capture project using algae to absorb the emitted greenhouse gas
from a power station in Germany.
The project in Brandenburg state will channel flue gas
emitted at the Senftenberg power plant through algae, which
lives on carbon dioxide, reducing CO2 concentrations in the gas.
Vattenfall is funding half of the 2 million-euro ($2.6
million) "green mission" project with the rest coming from
European Union and Brandenburg state subsidies, according to a
statement by Vattenfall.
Scheduled to run until October 2011, the project's purpose
is determining the percentage of carbon dioxide that algae
technology can capture, company spokeswoman Kathi Miedtank in an
e-mail. Vattenfall will have those results once the project
finishes, Miedtank said. The company plans to find out which
algae species is best-suited for carbon capture.
The first step in the project is to send CO2 through algae
grown in plastic tanks, Vattenfall's statement said. Besides
reducing CO2 in the gas, the remaining algae components can be
used for biomass, it said.
A "hanging garden" system would be used in a second
phase, Vattenfall said, using equipment from the Austrian
company Ecoduna OG. The hanging gardens would rotate in the sun,
allowing continuous harvesting of the biomass, the July 22
statement said.
For Related News and Information:
Top German story page: TOPG <GO>
Most-read alternative energy news: MNI ALTNRG <GO>
--Editors: Randall Hackley, Reed Landberg
To contact the reporter responsible for this story:
Sally Bakewell in London at +44-20-3216-4332 or
Sbakewell1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Angus McCrone in London at +44-20-3216-4795 or
amccrone1@bloomberg.net
