A New Aerosol-Based Photobioreactor for the Cultivation of Cyanobacteria on Luffa

Abstract

Cyanobacteria are promising organisms for sustainable biotechnology due to their ability to grow photoautotrophically and their wide range of products. Many cyanobacteria grow in the form of biofilms, which is why the development of photobioreactors (PBR) for the cultivation of cyanobacteria in the form of biofilms is of great interest. However, these biofilm PBR are mostly based on artificial growth surfaces, whereas biodegradable growth surfaces would be favored in terms of sustainable production and application. Luffa sponges (the dried fruit of Luffa cylindrica) are excellent biodegradable growth surfaces for cyanobacteria. Therefore, a biofilm PBR for cultivation of cyanobacteria on Luffa was developed in this study. Since many cyanobacteria grow naturally as biofilms in an air-exposed form and this should be imitated to improve growth, an aerosol-based PBR (abPBR) should be used for cultivation. This involves supplying the cyanobacteria with a nutrient mist. The abPBR was comprehensively characterized by determining the distribution of light, humidity and temperature inside the reactor. In addition, the residence time distribution of the aerosol was determined both experimentally and simulatively. In final cultivation experiments, it was shown that the abPBR is ideal for cultivating cyanobacteria and at the same time the aerosol system enables a simple imitation of drought stress. With the cyanobacteria Nostoc spec. and Desmonostoc muscorum, maximum area-time-yields (ATY) in relation to the growth surface of 6.34 and 4.19 g m⁻² d⁻¹, respectively, were achieved. Compared to previously developed abPBR, the ATY has been increased by a factor of 2.3.