Multifactorial comparison of photobioreactor geometries in parallel microalgae cultivations

Wolf, Juliane; Stephens, Evan; Steinbusch, Sven; Yarnold, Jennifer; Ross, Ian L.; Steinweg, Christian; Doebbe, Anja; Krolovitsch, C.; Müller, Sabrina; Jakob, Gisela; Kruse, Olaf; Posten, Clemens; Hankamer, Ben

doi:10.1016/j.algal.2016.02.018

Cited by 52 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Not surprisingly, a large discrepancy exists between reported growth rates of algae grown under constant light in the laboratory and outdoor production systems (Melis 2009;Wolf et al 2016). Partly this is explained by the fact that, in the former scenario, algae are able to photoacclimate to the steady state light conditions that they are subjected to by adjusting their light harvesting capacity to suit the given light conditions.…”

Section: Literature Review: Photosynthesis Of Microalgae and Its Regumentioning

confidence: 70%

“…A key limitation of this study was its failure to account for temperature effects, which has a coupled relationship with light and influences photosynthesis and respiration rates (Béchet et al, 2015). Furthermore, temperature varies dramatically during the day (Wolf J., 2016), and the heating/cooling requirements to keep temperature constant will impede both economic and energy returns. In addition to temperature, nutrient consumption is another important factor for predictive modelling to ensure nutrient concentrations that are neither limiting or greatly in excess.…”

Section: Opportunities and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other benefits of PBRs include: reduced evaporation and CO2 losses; low contamination risk in closed systems; maintenance of axenic cultures; and tighter control of temperature, nutrient inputs and gas exchange (Dillschneider and Posten, 2013). Disadvantages include: a smaller thermal culture mass that can result in heating issues; problems with gas exchange in certain systems, particularly O2 build up; surface fouling; and difficulties with scaling (Wolf J., 2016). The higher costs of PBRs have to date limited them to high value products such as astaxanthin or smaller volumes, such as for in-house production of aquaculture feed in hatcheries (Borowitzka, 1999b).…”

Section: Systems Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Photosynthesis of microalgae in outdoor mass cultures and modelling its effects on biomass productivity for fuels, feeds and chemicals

Yarnold¹

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Practical applications of microalgae include uses as feedstocks for sustainable fuels, feeds, nutraceuticals, and chemicals; for the treatment of wastewater and industrial flue gas; and for use as recombinant protein expression systems. Improvements in biomass yields are required for commercially viable and sustainable algal technologies, particularly for low value commodities such as biofuels.Although several algae exhibit higher growth rates than terrestrial crops, with theoretical upper limits of 8-10% photon conversion efficiency (PCE), solar-illuminated outdoor microalgal production systems typically have a PCE far below this and even below those achieved under laboratory conditions. The most intractable limiting factor is poor light distribution through the mass culture, where photoinhibitory light at the surface and dark zones deeper in the culture reduce photosynthetic productivity. Moreover, microalgae have evolved a suite of photoacclimation and photoregulation mechanisms to cope with rapid (seconds to minutes) light fluxes in natural environments, yet these processes remain poorly understood in well-mixed photobioreactors.The aim of this thesis study was to combine an experimental and theoretical approach to: 1) investigate and understand the photosynthetic response of algae under mass culture conditions; 2) develop a mathematical model which could accurately predict light-tobiomass productivities under a broad range of design scenarios for outdoor production systems; and 3) identify key biological and design parameters to maximise biomass yields.In the first part of the study, a light-to-biomass model was developed that could be easily applied to rapidly assess biomass yields of different algal strains under a range of design scenarios. This model predicts temporal and spatial irradiance at the reactor surface and through the mass culture with inputs of local solar radiation data, local coordinates, system properties and the optical properties of the culture. Local growth rates are then coupled to local light intensities within the reactor based on a static Haldane growth model derived from empirical growth-irradiance curves. Growth rates are integrated over space and time to compute areal and volumetric productivities.Validation of the model was attempted by conducting batch harvest experiments in a laboratory scale photobioreactor matrix which simulated diurnal light cycles representative of three 'typical' days of solar radiation in Brisbane. The strains used were ii Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and its truncated light-harvesting antenna mutant, tla1, reported to possess improved optical properties. Initially, the model did not satisfactorily predict growth under batch cultivation for the three different incident light conditions, overestimating productivity under low light days and overestimating on high light days.Subsequent adjustment of the model to include photoacclimative changes in the optical properties of the cell and a re-fit of the growth parameter values provided a more accurate m...

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Section: Literature Review: Photosynthesis Of Microalgae and Its Regumentioning

confidence: 70%

Section: Opportunities and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Systems Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Photosynthesis of microalgae in outdoor mass cultures and modelling its effects on biomass productivity for fuels, feeds and chemicals

Yarnold¹

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“…Photosynthetic efficiencies obtained under outdoor conditions are lower than the values obtained under laboratory conditions, under laboratory conditions values of 6% are obtained while for outdoor production values of around 3-5% are maximally predicted [5]. Under outdoor conditions photo saturation occurs [7] and essential cultivation parameters, such as temperature, cannot be controlled to the same extend as under laboratory conditions [8]. are used to prevent fouling.…”

Section: Current Status Of Microalgae Productionmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…Flat panel photobioreactors are narrow rectangular vertical vessels where the microalgal culture is mixed by aeration [8]. Flat panel photobioreactors are made from transparent materials: glass or plastic plates, or plastic films.…”

Section: Flat Panel Photobioreactorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Outdoor production of microalgae

Vree

Jeroen²

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Bubble Farming: Scalable Microcosms for Diatom Biofuel and the Next Green Revolution

Gordon

Merz

Gurke³

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Diatoms: Fundamentals and Applications

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Multifactorial comparison of photobioreactor geometries in parallel microalgae cultivations

Cited by 52 publications

References 38 publications

Photosynthesis of microalgae in outdoor mass cultures and modelling its effects on biomass productivity for fuels, feeds and chemicals

Photosynthesis of microalgae in outdoor mass cultures and modelling its effects on biomass productivity for fuels, feeds and chemicals

Outdoor production of microalgae

Bubble Farming: Scalable Microcosms for Diatom Biofuel and the Next Green Revolution

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