Colloquia

Samenvatting

In recent decades, atmospheric CO2 concentration has risen. As a result of this, carbon capture is needed to stop and even decrease this trend. One potential solution is the cultivation of photosynthetic algae as they grow faster and use less fertilizer than conventional crops. Currently the cost of cultivating these algae is very high as it is challenging to grow them in high concentrations at scale. Therefore, large land areas are often required, which is often costly. Previous research has shown that encapsulating the algae into hydrogel beads leads to a higher algae density due to optimized light penetration and in capsules even 5 times faster growth due to improved photosynthetic activity. However, there is no good method to encapsulate the algae at a high throughput rate without damaging the living cells.

This thesis investigates the possibilities to encapsulate the algae and form microcapsules with the high-throughput In Air Microfluidics method. We found that micro algae can be encapsulated by In-Air Microfluidics in a high-throughput and controlled manner without killing the cells. The algae were growing inside the resulting micro capsules. The experiments showed that the collection bath significantly influences the capsule formation and algal growth.

An optimal shell to core ratio was identified for stable capsule formation and effective growth of micro algae. At lower ratios algae escape from the core was observed whereas higher fraction resulted in reduced algal growth but more stable capsules. Overall, this thesis proved that algae can be successfully encapsulated and cultivated within microcapsules.