Chemical

Ihobe Eusko Jaurlaritza

BIORECIGAS

ELIMINATION OF NOX AND CO2 GASES FROM INDUSTRIAL SOURCES THROUGH AN ALGAE BIOFILTER

A mere 17 companies in the Basque Autonomous Community generate 7,500 tonnes of nitrogen oxides (NOx) annually. European Union generation exceeds 250,000 tonnes each year in certain activities alone.

BROMALGAE is a technological company that designs and develops chemical and biological solutions aimed at the abatement of Greenhouse Gases (GHG), mainly CO2 and NOx, generated and emitted by companies that use combustion in their production process, such as steel mills, paper mills, cement factories, glassworks, electricity generators, etc. and by urban traffic pollution. It has adapted and expanded a microalgae-based technology from the work of California Polytechnic State University (CAL POLY).

BROMALGAE
OBJECTIVES
  • Reduce the effects of industrial activity and improve human health by reducing pollutant gases using microalgae.
  • Reduce traffic pollution in cities through "artificial urban trees". 
  • Reduce industrial pollution. 
  • Produce (harvest) microalgae independently at its own facilities and without relying on polluting companies, with the aim of it being commissioned in October 2022.
  • Extend the project internationally, starting with France (Aquitaine Region). 
  • Consolidate internal organisation.
RESULTS
  • Verification and extension of the conclusions obtained by CAL POLY in its day, at a laboratory level, through collaboration with the UNIVERSITY OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY (UPV/EHU).
  • Pilot plant designed, built and monitored at the ZABALGARBI solid urban waste energy recovery plant (Bizkaia).
  • Verification of the feasibility of the plant in a difficult industrial environment.
  • Capture of 15% of CO2, and observed captures of NO3, HCl, H2F2, y H2SO4.
  • Finalisation of a new design of closed photobioreactor and the design of the new vertical and modular plant.
  • Completion of the "artificial urban tree" prototype.
CONCLUSIONS
  • Awareness of the possibilities of BIORECIGAS, in its two versions (industrial abatement and "artificial urban tree") has been extended, starting in the Basque Autonomous Community and extending to Spain and Europe, initially in the south of France.
  • BIORECIGAS has led to an increase in staff to cover certain aspects that the initial size of the company did not take into account.
  • Collaboration with companies and institutions, such as TECNALIA, GAIKER and the UPV/EHU has increased.
  • BIORECIGAS has been the entry projectfor other projects to continue its results, such as Garbiair and Garbinox, financed by the Basque Government and Bizkaia Provincial Council.

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