Objectives

In the last 50 years, the power requirements of industrial nations have increased exponentially. The growth of large developing countries such as China and India - as well as Russia - leads to enormous increases in the requirements for raw materials and power. These states require quantities of energy that would dwarf the demand of the old industrial countries. They also stimulate the economic activity of the classical industrial nations. Thus, a massive increase of environmentally unfriendly carbon dioxide goes into the atmosphere (see Figure 1). However, the resources for fossil energy and raw materials are limited. The investigation and use of alternative forms of power production and biomass  generation which are not bound to agriculturally usable surfaces is therefore urgently necessary for the future.

The growth of the worlds’ population continues apace, and with it the demand for food. Better pesticides could control against loss of crops, but food shortages are actually due to there being less and less agricultural and farm land. So food production remains insufficient. This is particularly true in the developing countries, where food supply is neither guaranteed nor sufficient.

Whole continents are going hungry, and it is with this in mind that we should discuss measures for a higher food production, to help improve this situation. The goal should be to develop highly-efficient production systems, which are environmentally-friendly at the same time.

Bildquelle: R.F. Keeling, S.C. Piper, A.F. Bollenbacher and J.S. Walker
Carbon Dioxide Research Group, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
University of California, La Jolla, California 92093-0444, U.S.A.

“The intelligent use of marine phytoplankton for the environmentally friendly recycling of carbon dioxide, coupled with the production of energy sources, food and platform chemicals”,  is this innovative approach the experts at Phytolutions follow. And our approach addresses these challenges, because it is inspired by the ocean, whose natural processes are very effective at reducing carbon dioxide. Phytoplankton living in the ocean absorb carbon dioxide similarly to land plants and use the process of photosynthesis to build up high-energy biomass. In the same way, algae produce environmentally friendly oxygen.

Marine micro algae are particularly well suited to carbon dioxide reduction, as they produce up to twenty times more biomass per surface and period than land plants. Additionally, they can be cultivated on industrial surfaces or dried up regions and do not require fresh water for growth (see Figure 2).

Phytoplankton vs. Land Plants: Biomass Production to Surface Relationship

In order to utilise the process of the natural carbon dioxide sink industrially, internationally renowned engineers and scientists from various areas have worked together – along with further industrial and scientific facilities - in a multidisciplinary manner at Phytolutions.

Key aspects

The developers and researchers of Phytolutions engage themselves in the following tasks:

• the industrial conversion of findings from the basic research
• the development, setup, improvement and operation of efficient photo bioreactors
• the development and use of process monitoring and control systems for the operation of  reactor farms
• the selection, production and optimised cultivation of micro algae which are particularly suitable for industrial utilisation
• the development and application of suitable cultivation procedures for the targeted production of algae ingredients
• chemical and biotechnological analysis,
• the increase of growth rates and biomass yields - also in the winter,
• the optimisation and development of efficient harvest technologies,
• the development and use of procedures to convert algae biomass,
• the development of procedures to reduce production costs.
• the development and operation of more efficient, economical and simple photo bioreactors for emerging countries.

Equipment

In addition, Phytolutions operates several photo bioreactors and scientific laboratories. There, various micro algae are produced and examined under diverse environmental conditions.