Periodic Symmetry Defined Bioreactor

A newly design periodic symmetry defined photobioreactor was tested by growing microalgae. This low cost, highly efficient photobioreactor was made up of evenly spaced nozzles that delivered fluid.  The periodic spacing of the nozzles resulted in distinct hexagonal cells that were defined by fluid dynamics with no physical wall.  .Since the reactors consists of simple nozzles and pumps, this reduces the construction costs and simplifies maintenance and operation. The periodic design increases the scalability which is the main drawback of the traditional photobioreactor. Three different photobioreactor configurations were tested: a single cell, seven cell and nineteen cell. The same concentration of microalgae was grown in all three reactors under the same conditions. Productivity of the photobioreactor was assessed by taking 150 ml samples from three different reactors every day. The optical density, oil density, and cell number were measured by UV-vis spectrometry and hemocytometry. The cell number for each reactor after two weeks are 0.308 cell/ml (single), 0.384 (cell/ml) (seven), and 0.339 cell/ml (nineteen). The transmittance for three reactors after two weeks are 82.78% (single), 81.4% (seven), and 82.05% (nineteen). Base on the data scalability of the reactor design was shown.  Details on reactors and design and microalgae conditions (including nitrogen content, dry biomass and oil density) will be presented.