| Title | Biomass Production Using Geothermal Flue Gas at the Blue Lagoon, Iceland |
|---|---|
| Authors | Hronn ARNARDOTTIR, Asa BRYNJOLFSDOTTIR, Albert ALBERTSSON and Halldor G. SVAVARSSON |
| Year | 2015 |
| Conference | World Geothermal Congress |
| Keywords | geothermal, flue gas, biomass production, microalgae |
| Abstract | Here we report on the use of a CO2 rich flue gas, from a geothermal power plant, to cultivate microalgae for skin care products. The geothermal flue gas (geogas), used for the cultivation, was obtained from HS Orka power plant located in the near vicinity of the Blue Lagoon, in South–West Iceland. Its main characteristic is an unusually high content of CO2 (~97%) compared to other geothermal power plants in Iceland (~75%) and a relatively low sulphur content or around 2% wt. (mainly H2S). The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal aquifier that was gradually formed from the effluents of HS Orka almost four decades ago. It has since then developed its own geothermal ecosystem. The geothermal seawater of the lagoon is composed of approximately two-thirds seawater and one-third fresh water and is very high in silica content. A unique microalgae species (Cyanobacterium aponinum), isolated from the Blue Lagoon ecosystem, was cultivated. Furthermore, the cultivated algae are used as an active ingredient in the skin care products of the Blue Lagoon ltd. This paper describes the techniques used to collect geogas from a geothermal power plant and its applications for high-value biomass production. A comparison to commercially available CO2 gas (ISAGA, Reykjavík, Iceland) suggests that geogas is fully competitive as a feedstock for microalgae cultivation. This technique provides a method to manage CO2 emission from geothermal power plants and a more environmentally friendly method for algae cultivation. |