Scientists develop new process to cultivate microalgae for skin care products

Flue gas from factory chimneys to cultivate microalgae is being used by scientists at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) in China, for use in skin care product formulations.

Professor Jo-Shu Chang at NCKU Department of Chemical Engineering, along with his team, has joined forces with China Steel Company to establish a pilot system for microalgae cultivation from flue gas, reported cosmeticsdesign.com.

According to the scientists, flue gas is the gas leaving the atmosphere from fireplace, oven, furnace, boiler or steam generator via a pipe or channel to exhaust gases.

With the process, the team aims to develop a platform technology for microalgae biodiesel production by using the microalgae yielded from consuming the flue gas CO2.

Microalgae extract can used as a ingredient for skin care products, which possesses cell restoration and cohesion properties, said the team.

Cosmetics firms are planning to introduce skin care products such as essence, day cream, night cream, skin mask made from microalgae extract into the market, said the team.

The researchers said they used high-temperature flue gas from chimneys at the company.

The team added said that though microalgae biomass can be converted into a range of biofuels, health food, the usage of microalgae cosmetics could be a new milestone.

According to the researchers, microalgae grown in the new method can resist high temperatures, which makes wet processing of microalgae into biofuels easier, helping save the drying costs.