Development of an X-Shape airlift photobioreactor for increasing algal biomass and biodiesel production

Abstract

The aim of this work was to develop a high efficient photobioreactor for increasing biomass and lipid production in microalgae by assessment of the hydrodynamic properties and kLa which are important parameters for improving the algal cultivation efficiency. We designed three different photobioreactors (H-Shape, X-Shape and serial-column). Among them, X-Shape showed the highest hydrodynamic properties and kLa for algal cultivation. Thus, we evaluated the biomass and the lipid production in a 20L scale-up X-Shape photobioreactor. The biomass and lipid production from X-Shape photobioreactor are 1.359±0.007gL−1 and 117.624±3.522mgL−1, respectively; which are 30.05% and 23.49% higher than those from the control photobioreactor. Finally, we observed the lipid from X-Shape had high MUFAs, CN and low IV, which is suitable for high quality of biodiesel, suggesting that it can be practicably utilized for mass production of algal biofuel.