Algae Biopanel Windows Make Power, Oxygen and Biomass, and Suck up CO2

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July 15, 2022

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by Loz Blain (New Atlas) Beautifully designed, energy-generating bio-panels that suck up carbon dioxide and pump out biomass for use as fuel or fertilizer – that’s the idea behind Mexican startup Greenfluidics and its nanotech-enhanced microalgae bioreactor building panels.

The idea of using flat algae tanks on the outside of buildings as part of a sustainability exercise is not new. Indeed, back in 2013, Splitterwerk Architects and engineering company Arup teamed up to create a full-scale demonstration building, called the BIQ, featuring no less than 200 sq m (2,150 sq ft) of algae bioskin panels.

These panels, tinted green by the biomass sandwiched within, serve several purposes. They take a stream of carbon dioxide, captured from what would otherwise be an emissions source, and bubble it through water impregnated with selected strains of algae, which absorb the CO2, as well as sunlight, and photosynthesize, increasing their mass and generating fresh oxygen. The more sunlight is available, the faster the algae will grow, capturing about two pounds of carbon dioxide for each pound of algae.

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How long would these panels last? How often would you have to clean them out, and do people need to abseil down the walls to do it? Would the algae gunk up the valves and pipework? Would the green-tinted light they let through make people feel queasy? Since the BIQ has to shut down through winter, are there algal strains available that’ll work year-round in a range of climates? Will they make people sick if there’s a leak?

Then there’s the economics; the BIQ was an early pilot project, but its panels increased the cost of the building facade by a factor of 10. Assuming economies of scale, what’s the green premium on algae panels in a mass-market implementation? How much can you sell your sludgy biomass for once it’s filtered out? What are the running costs? How much will it bring your power bills down? Is there a minimum size for a viable deployment of this stuff? READ MORE

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