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Effect of optical panel thickness for nutrient removal and cultivation of microalgae in the photobioreactor

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to quantitatively evaluate the effect of the illumination area and the thickness of the optical panel (OP) on the biomass growth of Chlorella vulgaris (C. vulgaris) algae with simultaneous removal of nutrients. For this purpose, three different thicknesses of OPs were used and designated as follows: 4 mm v-cut OP (Run 1), 6 mm v-cut OP (Run 2) and 8 mm v-cut OP (Run 3). The results indicated that the Run 2 and Run 3 samples possessed higher chlorophyll content, as calculated per cell and per unit area of the cell volume, and a shorter doubling time compared to the Run 1 samples. The growth of the biomass using Run 2 and Run 3 was approximately 11.18 %, and this growth was higher than that of Run 1. Furthermore, higher nutrient removal was observed with Run 2 than Run 1. The nutrient removal, biomass growth and specific growth rate for the Run 2 and Run 3 fractions were found to be almost identical. However, in terms of economic consideration, Run 2 with simultaneous nutrient removal was more effective than Run 1 and Run 3 in cultivating the microalgae C. vulgaris.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2010-0002804 and 2013006899).

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  1. Department of Environmental Engineering, Kwandong University, Gangneung, 210-701, Korea

    Hee-Jeong Choi & Seung-Mok Lee

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  1. Hee-Jeong Choi
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Correspondence to Hee-Jeong Choi.

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Choi, HJ., Lee, SM. Effect of optical panel thickness for nutrient removal and cultivation of microalgae in the photobioreactor. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 37, 697–705 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-013-1039-7

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