In this work, “Chroogloeocystis siderophila” (CS) culture was used to photosynthetically sequester carbon dioxide produced from natural gas combustion products in a film-based photo-bioreactor. The photo-bioreactor enhances the natural process of photosynthesis and also offers the possibility of both an environmentally and economically sustainable process of sequestering CO2 from flue gas and turning it into biomass that could be used as an energy source.
The goal of the current research was to quantify CS culture productivity as a function of specific photon flux intensity from 60 μmol m-2s-1 ≤ average photon flux ≤ 85 μmol m-2s-1 (high) to average photon flux ≤ 30 μmol m-2s-1 (low). The results indicated that the productivity of CS culture in a photo-bioreactor at high light intensity was greater than at low light intensity. Possible recommendations for increasing the productivity of CS culture were made by analyzing each test results, as well as given for further testing–especially with shorter harvesting period, repeating light level productivity testing.