Production of Desalinated Water & Electricity using Algae ponds

Abstract

Water and energy are two of the most essential resources for human life on earth. With the growing world population, water shortage and fossil fuel depletion have become tangible threats. Seawater desalination and renewable energy sources represent an effective and long-term solution for the ongoing exhaustion of fresh water and energy sources. Most methods of desalination and energy production have technical, economic, and environmental drawbacks. This study presents a new environment-friendly approach for electricity generation and desalination using microalgae. Electricity production and desalination using the freshwater algae Chlorella vulgaris were first investigated on a lab-scale and then tested again on a larger scale. Lab-scale electricity experiments involved constructing a bio-photovoltaic cell that uses an algal biofilm as an anode. The cell was investigated under conditions of varying salinity, cell height and anode to cathode distance. Desalination by C. vulgaris was examined by adding algae to water samples with different salinities and measuring the salinity level hourly for 12 hours. To test for practicality, a larger-scale pilot experiment was done examining the potential of C. vulgaris to simultaneously cause desalination and energy production and to determine the design equation for such system in algae ponds.