Originally published on July, 15 2024.

That biogas plants must contribute positively to the management of the surplus of livestock manure or waste from the agri-food industry and sewage sludge is no longer disputed by anyone in the scientific field. Gradually, progress was also made in its implementation. However, once the biomethane has been extracted from the digestate, the residue still exists and within the framework of the European research project SEMPRE-BIO, the BETA Technological Center of the UVic-UCC is studying CO₂ outputs.

One of these outlets is to use it in the cultivation of microalgae. And this is what Georgina del Puerto, a PhD student from Roda de Ter, graduated in Biotechnology at the UdG and who has also done a master’s degree in Applied Microbiology at the UAB, is working on. “We are researching ways to valorize CO₂” and one option is microalgae as an alternative source of protein, explains Del Puerto. That is why in the last few weeks they have installed a photobioreactor for their cultivation outside the BETA Center facilities in Can Baumann. They work with CO₂and other nutrients from the digestate coming out of the biogas plants.

The project is in the research phase. The aim is to demonstrate that the resulting microalgae can be used for animal feed. ”What we want is to generate the scientific and technical evidence to break down the legal barrier” that now prevents making food products from by-products such as digestate, according to Lídia Paredes, researcher in Environmental Technologies at CT BETA.

Diary: El 9 Nou

Author: Isaac Moreno

Link: https://el9nou.cat/osona-ripolles/actualitat/microalgues-co2-plantes-biogas/

Date: October, 2024