CO2 Storage: a solution to the immediate dangers of climate change

It is the ultimate challenge for the human race: serious, irreversible and unpredictable consequences of climate change can only be prevented if we keep the global temperature increase below 2°C. If they remain unchecked, CO2 emissions into this precarious environment will further complicate interactions in our delicately-balanced atmosphere. The human race is largely to blame for this predicted temperature rise, since our lifestyle causes carbon dioxide and other climate gases to be emitted in unnaturally large quantities.

In the short term, renewable energy cannot satisfy our growing demand for electricity and fuel. For the next few decades, or until renewable energies are produced in quantities large enough to meet this demand, fossil fuels will still be needed. CO2 storage could help reduce our CO2 emissions considerably. One way of doing this is by waste-gas separation, condensing the gas and sequestering it for a time in geological formations. But microalgae also offer efficient CO2 storage, since biomass can be converted into building material.

Green chemistry offers sustainable development with renewable resources

Sustainable development has become the highest goal of this century. In the search to achieve a new, sustainable chemistry, renewable resources will be of unique significance.

Renewable resources as a share of total resource consumption by the chemical industry in Germany and in the USA currently adds up to approximately 10%. A study by the US National Research Council estimates that 25% of all organic chemicals will be produced from renewable resources by 2020, rising to as much as 90% by 2090.  

A plant produces biomass from water and atmospheric carbon dioxide by photosynthesis, out of which renewable resources, such as vegetable oils and starch, are being extracted in a more or less pure form. After further processing and treatment, the basic ingredients, such as glycerine, fatty alcohol and glucose, can be extracted by chemical reactions. Further processing of these basic ingredients delivers useful products such as, for example, tensides, cosmetics and washing agents, among other industrial products.

This is similar to how microalgae is used for bio fuels, the decisive advantage of microalgae being that it involves ‘green chemistry’: the production of platform chemicals has a remarkably higher production rate, regarding time and surface, compared to non-marine plants. Moreover, due to the high cell division rate of the microalgae it is much easier than in non-marine plants to achieve desired characteristics and substances by breeding and thus maximise the scientific results.