Creation of a Photobioreactor for the Effective Growth of Chlorella and Study of the Effect of the Spectral Composition of Light on Its Biomass

Abstract

Chlorella is a green eukaryotic microalga (Chlorella vulgaris). The microscopic cell is spherical, 2–10 μm in diameter. This microalga is one of the most important and promising for biomass production. Chlorella is cultivated in ponds or bioreactors with specified parameters that create favorable conditions for the growth of chlorella biomass. Each set of conditions creates the opportunities for changing the growth rate and output of individual products. Two strains of chlorella were the object of the study: 1 – chlorella with a thin cell wall (Chlorella vulgaris VKPM Al-24); 2 – chlorella with a thick cell wall (Chlorella vulgaris Beijer). The culture of chlorella was cultivated on modified Tamiya nutrient medium, at 24°C and 24-hour illumination. It was cultivated for 5 days in 1000 ml flasks, in opaque grow boxes with different lighting regimes. The control variant was grown in a light room with white fluorescent lamps with an intensity of 150 μmol/m2 s, and the culture was also grown in the dark. Laboratory experiments studying the effect of spectral composition of light on growth of two strains of chlorella culture allowed identifying some regularities: 1 – the largest increase in biomass is observed when using white fluorescent lamps (T = 2700K); 2 – in the case of using FR>R or FR=R, their inhibitory effect on the growth of the studied strains of chlorella was observed. In addition, similar results were obtained when determining the optical density of the cultures, suggesting that the chlorella strains studied are similarly responsive to the action of different spectral compositions of light. Analyzing the absorption spectrum, it should be noted that it has a continuous character. It has been experimentally established that the first maximum is located in the red region (660 to 690 nm) and the second in the blue region (430 to 450 nm). The minimum absorption is observed in the green light region (500 to 610 nm).