Journal
JOURNAL OF SOLAR ENERGY ENGINEERING-TRANSACTIONS OF THE ASME
Volume 133, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
ASME-AMER SOC MECHANICAL ENG
DOI: 10.1115/1.4003419
Keywords
spatial light-dilution; photobioreactor; microalgae; kinetics; efficiency
Categories
Funding
- DARPA [4000067505]
- Utah Science, Technology, and Research Initiative's Biofuels Center at Utah State University
Ask authors/readers for more resources
A photobioreactor with an optical system that spatially dilutes solar photosynthetic active radiation has been designed, built, and tested at the Utah State University Biofuels Center. This photobioreactor could be used to produce microalgal biomass for a number of purposes, such as feedstock for an energy conversion process, or high-value products, such as pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals. In addition, the reactor could be used to perform services such as removing nitrates, phosphates, and other contaminants from waste water, as well as scrubbing toxic gases and carbon dioxide from flue gas. Preliminary tests were performed that compared growth and productivity kinetics of this reactor with that of a control reactor without spatial light-dilution. Tests indicated higher specific growth rates and higher areal and volumetric yields compared with the control reactor. The maximum specific growth rate, volumetric yield, and areal yield were 0.21 day(-1), 0.059 gm l(-1) day(-1), and 15 gm m(-2) day(-1), respectively. Over 10 days of sequential-batch operation, the prototype photobioreactor converted direct-normal solar energy to energy stored in biomass at an average efficiency of 1%. The areal productivity, as mass per aperture per time, was three times higher than that of the control reactor, indicating the photobioreactor design investigated holds promise. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4003419]
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available