Presentation of final results of the Project “ALGENCAL”

The R&D activity of the “Algencal – A project for a complete advanced energy system based on mass cultivation of microalgae in transparent photobioreactors to competitively and ecosustainably produce renewable energy and other products”, is focused on the prototyping of the full system necessary for a massive culture of the microalgae closest to the industrial scale.

The microalgae represent one of the most productive and sustainable culture that can be transformed in a wide range of products such as biofuels, food for animals, cosmetics, renewable chemical products and some other valuable components.

The prototypal implant, created under the project, is located in Marina di Gioiosa Ionica and is one of a kind considering that even if other experiences with this technology exist they are small lab size and far from reality.

The implant is a tubular circuit made off single modules/ reactors (6 total modules: 2 modules of inoculum and 4 of production); it consists of transparent tubes within which take place the uptake of the solar energy and the culture medium and the algal biomass circulate.

Each of the four circuit of production is 2 km long and contains a culture volume equal to around 25000 Liters, for a total volume which exceed the 100000 Liters.

The results obtained from the same implant on the lipids’ extraction activities and on the biogas production are encouraging regarding the productivity as well as the quality of the outputs.

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