Enhancing Scenedesmus obliquus biofilm growth and CO2 fixation in a gas-permeable membrane photobioreactor integrated with additional rough surface

Microalgae biofilm photobioreactors (PBRs) have been gaining more and more attention worldwide attributed to their advantages of lower water requirement and simpler harvesting process. In this work, aiming at enhancing microalgae biofilm growth and gas-liquid mass transfer based on previous biofilm PBRs, a gas-permeable membrane PBR integrated with additional rough surface (GMPBR-RS) was designed. By attaching an additional piece of stainless steel mesh onto the upper surface of the newly prepared gas-permeable membrane, the roughness of the substratum surface for Scenedesmus obliquus biofilm adhesion was enhanced and therefore resulted in a 28.27% improvement in areal biomass density of S. obliquus relative to the control PBR. Moreover, responses of S. obliquus biofilm adsorption growth and CO2 fixation in the GMPBR-RS to various liquid flow rates and gas flow rates were investigated. Notably, the maximum areal biomass density of S. obliquus biofilm and CO2 removal efficiency of the GMPBR-RS reached 31.44 g m(-2) and 65.05%, respectively.