A novel low-cost thin-film flat plate photobioreactor for microalgae cultivation

In this study, a novel thin-film flat plate photobioreactor (FPPBR) mounted with baffles and a 61.2 m(2) (2,000 L) photobioreactor system based on the FPPBR were developed. The flow of the fluid in the thinfilm photobioreactor was investigated by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The cultivation of Chlorella sp. and Scenedesmus dimorphus in the thin-film FPPBR was carried out outdoors. The results showed that the flow of culture medium in different channels was uniform. In outdoor cultivation, the biomass productivity in the FPPBR with baffles was 25.2% higher than that in the FPPBR without baffles. In the pilot-scale FPPBR system, the maximum area productivity of Scenedesmus dimorphus reached 21.9 g/m(2)/day. When the service time of the photobioreactor was 1 and 3 years, the capital cost of the photobioreactor was 4.72 and 2.45 $ kg(algae), respectively. The results demonstrated that the thin-film FPPBR was cost effective, and it has the potential to be used for mass cultivation of microalgae.