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Operation of Laboratory Photobioreactors with Online Growth Measurements and Customizable Light Regimes
Published on: October 28, 2021
Energy-efficient photobioreactor configuration for algal biomass production
Ambica Koushik Pegallapati1, Yalini Arudchelvam, Nagamany Nirmalakhandan
1Civil Engineering Department, New Mexico State University, MSC 3CE, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA.
Abstract:
An internally illuminated photobioreactor (IIPBR) design is proposed for energy-efficient biomass production. Theoretical rationale of the IIPBR design and its advantages over the traditional bubble column photobioreactors (PBRs) are presented, followed by experimental results from prototype scale cultivation of freshwater and marine algal strains in an 18L IIPBR. Based on theoretical considerations, the proposed IIPBR design has the potential to support 160% higher biomass density and higher biomass productivity per unit energy input, B/E, than a bubble column PBR of equal incident area per unit culture volume. Experimental B/E values recorded in this study with fresh water algae and marine algae (1.42 and 0.37 gW(-1)d(-1), respectively) are at least twice as those reported in the literature for comparable species cultivated in bubble column and airlift PBRs.
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