There is a lot of potential in algae to sequester CO2, however, in most cases, the algae is used as an oil feedstock for liquid transportation fuels. Hence this merely delays the time before the fossil carbon hits the atmosphere. The key is to use sequestration on biomass-derived fuels, then pump the sequestered CO2 back underground. Such a process produces a net reduction in atmospheric CO2. I have heard of some truly impressive rates of CO2 sequestration from algae, but the energy source is still sunlight, and that means the area needed for algae ponds to sequester all the CO2 from a coal-fired power plant would be truly huge (as in many square miles). I am not aware of any algae sequestration project that would sequester more than a tiny fraction of the CO2 from a coal-fired plant. I would like to see a lot more research in this area, but I do not see it being a commercially viable technology on the scale needed in the foreseeable future.
JBK
Michael Price greyhawkwv@verizon.net 12/29/2008 6:32 PM >>>
This site has some interesting info.
mike
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James Kotcon