The difficult path of biological recovery of CO₂

To overcome the difficulties of chemical conversion of CO₂, some companies have decided to use biological methods, including the cultivation of microalgae. The microalgae is considered as a cellular factory able to produce both oxygen and molecules such as lipids, vitamins or pharmaceutical ingredients, and to synthesize active pharmaceutical ingredients such as hyaluronic acid, elastin or collagen. Another example of use is the production of nutraceutical compounds and lipids for 3G biofuels. If the valorization of CO₂ by hyperaccumulating microalgae is a concept that has existed for a long time, the complexity lies in the supply of nitrogen and the optimization of the productivity of the organisms in the presence of CO₂ from effluents. (O.M.)