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Integrating planar waveguides doped with light scattering nanoparticles into a flat-plate photobioreactor to improve
Yahui Sun1, Qiang Liao1, Yun Huang1
1Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems, Chongqing University, Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400044, China; Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China.
Abstract:
Industrially manufactured planar waveguides doped with light scattering nanoparticles, which can dilute and redistribute the intense incident light within microalgae suspension more uniformly, were introduced into a flat-plate photobioreactor (PBR) with a width of 25cm to alleviate the adverse effect of poor light penetrability on microalgae growth. Compared with the flat-plate PBR without waveguides, the illumination surface area per unit volume in the proposed PBR was increased by 10.3 times. During the whole cultivation period, the illuminated volume fractions in the proposed PBR were 21.4-410% higher than those in the flat-plate PBR without waveguides. Consequently, attributed to the optimized light distribution in the proposed PBR, a 220% improvement in biomass production was obtained relative to that in the flat-plate PBR without waveguides. Furthermore, higher light output intensities emitted from the planar waveguide surfaces and increased microalgae growth rates were achieved by decreasing the length of planar waveguides.
