Architectural Bio-Photo Reactors: Harvesting Microalgae on the Surface of Architecture

Abstract

This chapter presents innovative construction systems developed by the authors, integrated into the surfaces of cities and architecture—facades, roofs and pavements—giving them a supplement to traditional construction, aesthetic and enclosure, for the production of bio-energy. These systems allow the movement of fluids with microalgae, becoming Architectural Photo-Bioreactors that, by absorbing sunlight and converting it through photosynthesis of microalgae, produce biomass, biogas, bio-fertilizers and other value-added products to the pair that captures CO₂. The grand innovation of the project is the combination of two fields, constructive and biological, highly disruptive and uniquely for a sustainable city in a holistic view of energy, for growing algae in architecture.