For decades, carbon dioxide has been viewed primarily as a problem. Rising CO₂ emissions have become one of the defining environmental challenges of our time, driving climate change and forcing societies to rethink how they produce energy, food and industrial goods. But what if carbon dioxide could be transformed from a waste product into a valuable resource? This question lies at the heart of Decarbon3BIO – Bio-decarbonization Systems for Sustainable Biomass, Biofuels and Bioproducts, a project exploring the remarkable potential of microalgae to capture CO₂ and convert it into valuable biological materials.
What makes microalgae so intriguing is their extraordinary versatility. Like plants, they use photosynthesis to transform carbon dioxide into biomass. Unlike many conventional crops, however, they grow rapidly, capture CO₂ efficiently and do not require fertile agricultural land. Many species can thrive in saline water, brackish environments or even wastewater, reducing competition with food production and freshwater resources.
For the Decarbon3BIO team, microalgae are fascinating not only because of what they produce, but because of how they respond to their environment.
What fascinates us most is their metabolic flexibility, says Prof. Agnieszka Zienkiewicz.
Although they are relatively simple organisms, microalgae can dramatically alter their metabolism depending on environmental conditions. Under stress, some species begin producing large quantities of oils as a survival strategy—a process researchers hope to better understand and eventually harness for sustainable production of valuable compounds.
This ability to generate multiple products from a single biological system is central to the project’s vision. Rather than focusing on one end product, such as biofuel, the researchers are developing an integrated biorefinery approach. Oils can be converted into renewable fuels, pigments and terpenoids can be used in cosmetics or pharmaceuticals, while the remaining biomass may find applications in agriculture or animal feed. In this model, every part of the organism has value.
This is where the project’s broader environmental ambition becomes clear. Decarbon3BIO is built around the idea of a biological “zero-waste” system—one in which material loops are closed and resources are used as efficiently as possible. Instead of extracting value from one process and discarding the rest, researchers aim to design systems in which each output becomes an input for something else.
Achieving such a vision is far from straightforward. Researchers must identify robust microalgal strains, optimise cultivation conditions, monitor carbon uptake and ensure that the entire process remains economically viable at scale. Scientific discovery alone is not enough; the challenge is to create systems that can function beyond the laboratory.
That is why interdisciplinarity plays such a crucial role. Decarbon3BIO brings together expertise in biotechnology, chemistry, environmental engineering, agriculture and economics. Only by combining these perspectives can researchers understand the entire system—from algal physiology and biomass production to commercial implementation and environmental impact.
Ultimately, the project is driven by a simple but powerful idea: sustainability becomes far more attractive when environmental solutions also create economic value.
Environmental sustainability becomes more attractive when CO₂ capture is combined with production of high-value compounds. — Prof. Zienkiewicz
By transforming carbon dioxide into fuels, materials and other useful products, microalgae offer a glimpse of a future in which climate action is not merely about reducing waste, but about rethinking what waste actually is.
