The laboratory environmental algae pond simulator (LEAPS) photobioreactor: Validation using outdoor pond cultures of Chlorella sorokiniana and Nannochloropsis salina

Journal Article · Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Algal Research

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.algal.2017.06.017· OSTI ID:1581797

Huesemann, Michael ^[1]; Williams, P ^[1]; Edmundson, Scott ^[1]; Chen, P ^[1]; Kruk, R ^[1]; Cullinan, V ^[1]; Crowe, Brandon ^[2]; Lundquist, Todd ^[2]

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1. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
2. California Polytechnic State Univ. (CalPoly), San Luis Obispo, CA (United States)

A bench-scale photobioreactor system, the Laboratory Environmental Algae Pond Simulator (LEAPS), was designed and constructed to simulate outdoor pond cultivation for a wide range of geographical locations and seasons. The LEAPS consists of six well-mixed glass column photobioreactors submerged in a temperature controlled waterbath (-2 °C to >60 °C) and illuminated from above by a programmable multicolor LED lighting system (0 to 2,500 µmol/m²-sec). Measured incident light intensities and water temperatures deviated from the respective light and temperature setpoints on average only 2.3% and 0.9%, demonstrating accurate simulation of light and temperature conditions measured in outdoor ponds. In order to determine whether microalgae strains cultured in the LEAPS exhibit the same linear phase biomass productivity as in outdoor ponds, Chlorella sorokiniana and Nannochloropsis salina were cultured in the LEAPS bioreactors using light and temperature scripts measured previously in the respective outdoor pond studies. For Chlorella sorokiniana, the summer season biomass productivity in the LEAPS was 6.6% and 11.3% lower than in the respective outdoor ponds in Rimrock, Arizona, and Delhi, California; however, these differences were not statistically significant. For Nannochloropsis salina, the winter season biomass productivity in the LEAPS was 9.2% higher than in the respective outdoor ponds in Tucson, Arizona, a difference shown to be not statistically significant. Potential reasons for the positive or negative divergence in LEAPS performance, relative to outdoor ponds, are discussed. To demonstrate the utility of the LEAPS in predicting productivity, two other strains – Scenedesmus obliquus and Stichococcus minor – were evaluated using the summer season script for Rimrock, Arizona. For both strains, the productivity was around 11.6 g/m²-day at 25 cm culture depth. In conclusion, the LEAPS is an accurate pond simulator and thus offers a reliable, fast, and cost-effective way to screen microalgae strains and operating conditions for high biomass productivity and co-product yields.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States); Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Sustainable Transportation Office. Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO)
• Grant/Contract Number: ee0006269
• OSTI ID: 1581797
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1550272
• Journal Information: Algal Research, Vol. 26, Issue C; ISSN 2211-9264
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Climate-simulation photobioreactor
Laboratory-scale outdoor pond simulator
Raceway ponds
Phenometrics photobioreactors (ePBR)
LED lighting
Biomass productivity
Chlorella sorokiniana
Nannochloropsis salina
Scenedesmus obliquus
Stichococcus minor