Bioreactor for the cultivation of Arthrospira platensis under controlled conditions

Abstract

A vertical flat-type bioreactor consisting of transparent polyethylene (food safe) was constructed, which is characterized by a flexible design and allows the adjustment of a light path of 1 cm – 8.5 cm and a working volume of 1.5 l – 4 l. To characterize the performance of the bioreactor, cultivation experiments were performed with the cyanobacterium Arthrospira platensis (AP). The growth was assessed continuously by monitoring optical density and intermittently by measuring the dry weight of the AP biomass. An on-line measurement technique for estimating biomass production rate in a photosynthetic microalgae culture was developed. The oxygen produced by AP in the culture medium was flushed out sparging using a mixture of air and CO2 (1%). Factors which might influence the AP growth were monitored: pH, temperature, oxygen concentration and the filling level were corrected automatically to compensate evaporation losses. As an example, the huge influence of the light intensity on the AP growth was tested. The increase of the photon flux density of 15 to 1200μmol/(l · d) led to a 22-fold increase of the productivity and a 3.1-fold shorter doubling time. Using an online measurement technique - together with the control of the growth process via a wireless local area network (WLAN) router and virtual private network - allows monitoring the growth of Arthrospira platensis remotely.