Liao Qiang Instructs Students to Do Experiments
Industrial waste gas, factory waste water, straw and other contaminants can be turned into waste through microalgae. Not only can they be recycled, but they can also produce fuel. Recently, the team of Chongqing University, Liao Qiang, was selected for the National University Huang Da Nian. Teacher team's. The team members all said that this honor can not be separated from the team leader Professor Liao Qiang's 20 years of innovation and persistence.
Clever use of solar energy to produce microalgae diesel
In the microalgae artificial greenhouse and microbiological fuel cell artificial greenhouse of the College of Power Engineering of Chongqing University, the reporter of the Science and Technology Daily saw a row of green microalgae contained in a vessel. Microalgae are those microscopic algae that can be identified under the microscope. There are more than 20,000 species in total. It is a primary producer in aquatic ecosystems. Microalgae grow by photosynthesis, and its photosynthesis efficiency is higher. It is more than 10 times that of terrestrial plants such as trees. The growth cycle is generally only Six to seven days.
Liao Qiang said that don’t underestimate these inconspicuous microorganisms. These micron-sized microalgae act like a 'cell factory', and energy sources continuously convert carbon dioxide and waste nitrogen and phosphorous into wastes. Grease, sugar, protein biomass. Afterwards, these oils can be converted into biodiesel, turning waste into treasure.
The traditional method of cultivating microalgae energy is to completely dry it, and then perform pyrolysis gasification or liquefaction to convert it into energy. However, this method has high energy consumption and low efficiency, and it is difficult to apply on a large scale. The team used solar energy to replace groundbreakingly. Reliance on electrical energy and other energy in the research process. Microalgae are cultivated in high-efficiency photobioreactors. Hydrothermal pretreatment of wet algae is performed with medium and low-temperature solar energy. Excess solar energy is stored through the battery, and electric discharge can be continued with LED lamps at night. In order to cultivate microalgae, the entire system is also operated by a solar energy storage drive motor. This process has low energy consumption, low cost, and both emission reduction and production capacity. 1 kilogram of algae can consume 1.8 kilograms of carbon dioxide.
At present, the team is building a 600 square-meter platform that integrates microalgae cultivation and the conversion of sunlight to medium temperature. It is also necessary to promote the platform to industrial emission reduction, waste water purification plant to purify wastewater and diesel production, and other fields.
'If China's 1.5% of the land area is used for the cultivation of microalgae, it will reduce the annual carbon dioxide emissions of 9 billion tons in China in 2015, and it can produce about 800 million tons of biodiesel, which is about one and a half years of fuel use in the country. Volume. ' Liao Qiang said that if this kind of biomass energy can achieve results transformation and go to the market, then replacing high-polluting energy sources with clean energy is just around the corner.
