ART: From Air to Fuel (2024-2026)

Transforming CO2 into hydrogen with advanced microalgae systems

Project team: Io Antonopoulou (project leader), Alok Kumar Patel (project leader)

Duration: 2024-2026

Budget: 2 000 000 SEK

Funded by Jubileumsfonden and the Kempe Foundations

Our project proposes an integrated two-step approach for CO2 capture from air and green H2 production using biotechnology. The efficiency of each step will be increased by applying improvement strategies resulting in a competitive solution that can aid industrial and societal decarbonization. In our project, we aim in developing an efficient process where CO2 from air will be captured by microalgae and used as a carbon source for their growth. Green hydrogen will be further produced by the microalgae using only water and light, using a biological process called direct photolysis. As an alternative to use of electricity to split water to hydrogen and oxygen, algae can do this by using only light.

Our project has tremendous potential to provide plug-and-play solutions, highly relevant for green transition, including:

• CO2 capture from air via DAC could mitigate indirect CO2 emissions produced by the industry and society. DAC can contribute to making products carbon neutral by expanding the system boundary, from only their manufacturing, to also include the transportation to the end user.
• A green H2 production alternative is proposed that can be applied in the industry when conventional electrolysis is expensive due to electricity price fluctuations. Although green H2 production is predominantly driven by investments in electrolysers, our approach could provide a buffer system for providing low-cost green hydrogen when the industry needs it.
• Responsible use of natural resources is targeted. The microalgae will mainly use CO2, water, and light to produce a high-value product, green hydrogen. At the same time, CO2 that known as a pollutant and one of the gases contributing to climate change, will be valorized towards producing algal biomass for green hydrogen production. We will use nature’s own processes to mitigate climate change, making it more efficient for industrial implementation.