This preliminary study aims at evaluating the efficiency of a bench-scale tubular photobioreactor by means of batch cultivations of Spirulina platensis under light-limited conditions. The most interesting feature of this plant configuration is the use of an airlift system for biomass re-cycling instead of traditional pumps to avoid the well-known problems of trichome damage owing to mechanical stress. A maximum cell concentration of 10.6 g l−1 was attained after 15 days of cultivation using a photosynthetic active radiation of 120 μmol photons m−2 s−1. Although the system operated in laminar flow under all the conditions investigated in this study, excess thricome stress was prevented only at relatively low air flow rates (<4.5 l min−1), corresponding to culture speeds lower than 0.21m s−1.
Cultivation of Spirulina platensis in a combined airlift-tubular reactor system
CONVERTI, ATTILIO;LODI, ALESSANDRA;DEL BORGHI, ADRIANA;SOLISIO, CARLO
2006-01-01
Abstract
This preliminary study aims at evaluating the efficiency of a bench-scale tubular photobioreactor by means of batch cultivations of Spirulina platensis under light-limited conditions. The most interesting feature of this plant configuration is the use of an airlift system for biomass re-cycling instead of traditional pumps to avoid the well-known problems of trichome damage owing to mechanical stress. A maximum cell concentration of 10.6 g l−1 was attained after 15 days of cultivation using a photosynthetic active radiation of 120 μmol photons m−2 s−1. Although the system operated in laminar flow under all the conditions investigated in this study, excess thricome stress was prevented only at relatively low air flow rates (<4.5 l min−1), corresponding to culture speeds lower than 0.21m s−1.
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