SAT\u2019s innovative production system employs a special feature to match light and nutrient supplies optimally to the algae life cycle. This helps to maximise biomass production, greatly enhancing system efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The technology can operate in any climatic conditions with a variety of micro-algae species.<\/b><\/p>\n
A pilot plant is running at the Timelkam power station in Austria. The system includes three stages: separation of CO2<\/sub> from flue gas, algae cultivation and biomass harvesting. During the first stage, CO2<\/sub> is removed from the plant\u2019s waste gas emissions and diverted to a nutrient solution for the micro-algae, which are then cultivated in a compact system of bioreactors. The bioreactors, the heart of the SAT process, include a start-up biosphere, photo-bioreactors and a mixotrophic process stage where the microorganisms can use a mix of different sources of energy and carbon.<\/p>\n Algae cultivation in the biosphere takes place as part of a ‘closed pond’, which helps to mitigate environmental influences and to protect against contamination by other organisms. The system is also fitted with automatic temperature controls, an automated CO2<\/sub> feed and a special pump system to ensure a uniform distribution of nutrients within the ponds, optimising the growth of the algae culture.<\/p>\n The photo-bioreactors, in which the algae are grown to maturity, are another core part of SAT’s technology. These are silos equipped with an agitator and a CO2<\/sub> feed as well as temperature control elements. The reactors are illuminated by a combination of sunlight and high performance light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The light is evenly distributed within the bioreactors to ensure perfect growth conditions for the algae, helping to reduce overall space requirement and investment costs.<\/p>\n The mixotrophic process involves the introduction of alternative carbon nutrient sources, while reducing ambient light and the supply of CO2<\/sub>. This allows for optimisation of algal properties such as oil content, fatty acids and enzymes. SAT harvesting is carried out in two steps. Firstly, a specially designed coagulation process concentrates the algal mass at the bottom of the bioreactor. Water and algae biomass are then separated using a highly efficient but low energy harvesting system.<\/p>\n The biomass produced has a variety of potential applications, including in the production of biofuels, in the biochemistry, bioplastics, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries, and as an animal feed. The SAT system also has a potentially important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It offers a biomass CO2<\/sub> conversion factor of 1:2, meaning every tonne of biomass consumes about two tonnes of CO2<\/sub> during its growth cycle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SAT’s innovative production system employs a special feature to match light and nutrient supplies optimally to the algae life cycle. This helps to maximise biomass<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[],"supplier":[2317,2186],"class_list":["post-15645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","supplier-european-commission","supplier-see-o-two-sot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15645\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15645"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=15645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}