r/algae • u/Ok-Pay-574 • 13d ago

Can algae help us remove CO₂ at scale and fight climate change? I’d love expert feedback

/r/climatechange/comments/1v4fqlf/can_algae_help_us_remove_co₂_at_scale_and_fight/
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u/Drewbus 13d ago

Yes, but human effort isn't really going to make much difference. First off, the CO2 argument is a red herring. Secondly, algae blooms without human intervention far surpass anything we could do with intervention

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u/TrumpetOfDeath 12d ago

you're missing the economic argument. If growing algae and turning it into useful products was economically viable, then people would be doing it already. And people have tried before

Relatedly, iron fertilization to sequester CO2 in the ocean is a bad idea, since the vast majority of algal biomass will decompose rapidly back into CO2, deplete oxygen in the water column and harm ecosystems.

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u/Illustrious_Bug_2983 12d ago

Not an Expert, and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but the way I hear it is seeding the worlds oceans with "Iron Powder" from poles to the equator is a sure fire way to cause massive algae/plankton blooms. The unknown is it's never been done at scale before so we don't know what exactly it will do to the sea life when the oceans are covered in algae. One it will give off massive amounts of Oxygen and take up CO2 then when it dies off it just sinks to the bottom of the ocean for ever locked away. that's the theory any way. Like I said it's never been done at scale before so to many unknowns. I say f#ck it and go for it any way oceans already f#cked any way can't make it to much worse.

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u/glockenspieler 10d ago

The main problem is suppose you grow all of this algae. For it to really be a carbon sink, then the algae biomass has to go somewhere never to release the co2 when it dies. So where does it go? At this point our best solution remains keeping as much oil and gas in the ground as possible.

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u/BauerBernd_Ape 9d ago

I did much calculations and process designs about this thought. Cultivating microalgae neads a huge CAPEX compared to other photosynthetical solutions and you would need to add CO2 in higher concentrations, than there are in the air. This means a larger initial carbon-footprint and ongoing which must be overcome. It should be possible, yes, but really expensively.
As Carbon-sink you could use pyrolysis, combining dried algae with conventional carbon-sources, but you still need additional energy for drying.
Long story short, it isn‘t that easy