Symbiosis

The Physiology and Biotechnology of Algae laboratory is a partner of the ANR SYMBIOSE project (the BioEnergies ANR-08-BIOE-2011 program) coordinated by Naskeo Environnement. This research project, labellised by competitiveness clusters Derbi and Capenergies, aimed to develop a methanation process facilitating fixation of industrial CO₂ and the production of methane.
 
The set objective was to develop an effective two-stage production process combining a microalgae production stage that fixes CO2, and a second, methane-producing stage with fermentation of the microalgae produced. The «Symbiosis» loop created by this process will recycle nutritive elements such as nitrogen and phosphorus within the microalgae production system.
Teams working together on ANR SYMBIOSE are specialized in algal-bacterial ecosystems, the ecophysiology of microalgae, bacterial fermentation, and process modeling.
 
The laboratory as project partner was contributing behavioral studies of complex microalgal-bacterial cultures, with a view to their optimization, along with expertise in microalgae culture technologies

Project partners: 
NASKEO environnement, ECOSYM, INRA-LBE, INRA-BIOCORE