Using CO2 for the bubbles on an upflow algae scrubber

[cdm2012]

I know Garf has experimented with CO2 on his waterfall scrubber, but has any one attempted to use CO2 for an upflow algae scrubber?

I came across this article Innovation award for 'bubble-maker' that boosts algae growth (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/oct/15/bubble-maker-algae-royal-society).

I know that this article is about using algae as biofuel, but it did bring up some interesting thoughts.


carbon dioxide bubbles to feed the algae, the small bubbles crucially - unlike larger ones - carry away waste oxygen and allow 100% of the algae to survive...If you sit in your own waste products, it's not good for your health, it stunts your growth and leads to death


The bubble-maker also stirs the algae, meaning each cell is better exposed to the light it needs to grow

I thought it was interesting that the oxygen produced by algae needs to be carried away from the algae because it is unhealthy. And by using super-fine bubbles made by CO2, you end up feeding the algae, you carry away the waste oxygen, and you stir it to expose it more to the light.

So has anyone tried swarming a UAS screen with micro CO2 bubbles yet?

[SantaMonica]

Small bubbles do not penetrate gha very well.

[Floyd R Turbo]

Garf's thread is "CO2 Turbo" he looks into this. Also there has been much discussion on this site about the need to carry oxygen away from the algae, or else oxygen saturation will inhibit primary production. Calling it a waste product is actually a pretty good way of putting it.