Carbon makes up about half of the dry weight of algae, so it is no surprise that carbon is the number one nutrient in demand for algae production.  While some types of algae can take in carbon from organic sources, when we discuss large scale algae biomass production, we focus on algae that take their carbon from carbon dioxide (CO2).  Atmospheric CO2 and bacteria cell respiration (more so in applications like wastewater treatment) meet this carbon demand to a point, but given a sufficient amount other nutrients and a comfortable growing environment (light, temperature, salinity, pH), algae need additional CO2 to maximize growth so that only sunlight is the limiting factor.

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