Effects of light intensity distribution on growth of Rhodobacter capsulatus

For cultivation of photosynthetic cells under defined light intensity distributions, the repeated batch culture, in which a part of culture broth containing grown cells was repeatedly replaced at predetermined time intervals with a fresh medium to keep the cell concentration constant at an initial value, was employed. By use of this method the effects of the light intensity distribution on the growth characteristics of Rhodobacter capsulatus were studied. Unexpected decreases in the specific growth rate were observed in culture of R. capsulatus at high cell concentrations and a long light path length. Big differences in the light intensities of lightly and darkly illuminated portions in photobioreactors, which reflects the light intensity distribution, seemed to cause this phenomenon, which must be taken into consideration for stable growth of photosynthetic cells.