Pretreated Algae Methane Gas as a Carbon-Neutral Energy Source

This research will investigate the methane gas production in the anaerobic digestion of wastewater sludge by the addition of algae belonging to the genus Scenedesmus. Our goal is to test whether or not pretreatment of the algae will allow for a more efficient and rapid methane gas evolution than untreated algae. In order to pretreat the algae an electroporation device will be engineered for industrial scale methane gas production. In addition to this, it is important to evaluate operational parameters such as wastewater sludge and algal biomass loading rate, detention time and temperature on the quantity of methane gas generated. In this research we seek to investigate the potential of methane gas as a carbon-neutral source for creation of electricity and heat at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). We hypothesize that the addition of pretreated algal biomass to anaerobic digesters at WWTPs will produce a significant amount of methane gas. The process of algal methane gas production can be used to fix carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere and capturing nutrients released into the environment since growing algae requires carbon dioxide and nutrients.