Third webinar of the series entitled "Microalgae production for a strengthened circular economy"
Speaker: Prof. Simon Barnabé, UQTR
Language: French, with slides in French
Summary: In the current energy, economic and environmental situation, society is looking for profitable solutions to reduce its environmental impact and its dependence on fossil fuels. Among the technologies available or in development, the intensive cultivation of microalgae for energy purposes was envisaged in the 1970s. Many groups have tried to date to develop profitable productions of so-called 3rd generation biofuels, but the companies who had successes were those that had targeted higher value products (food and animal health, hygiene and human health, etc.). Microalgae have other applications such as tertiary wastewater treatment. Success stories have been accumulated on their production in cohabitation with agro-food or industrial factories where products for local or local use could potentially be obtained with the algal biomass harvested. In these cases, the microalgae production systems benefited from a regular supply of cheap nutrients (wastewater, mixed or not with other sources of cheap local nutrients) and the energy lost from factories (heat) to help the profitability of targeted products. This strategy of coexistence and promotion of co-products on the spot or locally fits in harmoniously with the concept of circular economy in a given territory. It is in this perspective that the team of Professor Barnabé of the UQTR and his close collaborators have been working for several years on the production of microalgae from wastewater. Examples of past and current projects will be presented and discussed.
New series of weekly CentrEau webinars "all about water management". These short 20-minute presentations will be offered live every Thursday at 1 p.m. followed by a short discussion period. CentrEau professors and researchers, as well as guest speakers, will present their research work and its importance in a semi-popularized manner.
Watch the previous webinars on our YouTube Channel!
