Algal CO2 fixation and H2 photoproduction

A combined system for recovering air pollutants and converting them to H-2 was studied. CO2 and nitric oxide (NO) were removed simultaneously from a model flue gas using Dunnliella tertiolecta and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cultures in a tubular photobioreactor. The algal biomass was converted to a substrate suitable for bacterial H-2 production by the starch-hydrolyzing lactic acid bacterium, Lactobacillus amylovorus. The photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobium marinum produced H-2 from lactic acid fermentation products, and a conversion yield of 6 mol H-2 per mole of starch-glucose in the algal biomass was observed in a system starting from biomass of D. tertiolecta. Such a combined system would give additional value and thereby improve practical efficiency of solar energy conversion to H-2.