Perspective Design of Algae Photobioreactor for Greenhouses—A Comparative Study

Kateřina Sukačová, Pavel Lošák, Vladimír Brummer, Vítězslav Máša, Daniel Vícha and Tomáš Zavřel
Additional contact information
Kateřina Sukačová: Global Change Research Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Bělidla 986/4a, 603 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Pavel Lošák: Institute of Process Engineering, Brno University of Technology, Technická 2896/2, 616 69 Brno, Czech Republic
Vladimír Brummer: Institute of Process Engineering, Brno University of Technology, Technická 2896/2, 616 69 Brno, Czech Republic
Vítězslav Máša: Institute of Process Engineering, Brno University of Technology, Technická 2896/2, 616 69 Brno, Czech Republic
Daniel Vícha: Global Change Research Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Bělidla 986/4a, 603 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Tomáš Zavřel: Global Change Research Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Bělidla 986/4a, 603 00 Brno, Czech Republic

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 5, 1-17

Abstract: The continued growth and evolving lifestyles of the human population require the urgent development of sustainable production in all its aspects. Microalgae have the potential of the sustainable production of various commodities; however, the energetic requirements of algae cultivation still largely contribute to the overall negative balance of many operation plants. Here, we evaluate energetic efficiency of biomass and lipids production by Chlorella pyrenoidosa in multi-tubular, helical-tubular, and flat-panel airlift pilot scale photobioreactors, placed in an indoor environment of greenhouse laboratory in Central Europe. Our results show that the main energy consumption was related to the maintenance of constant light intensity in the flat-panel photobioreactor and the culture circulation in the helical-tubular photobioreactor. The specific power input ranged between 0.79 W L −1 in the multi-tubular photobioreactor and 6.8 W L −1 in the flat-panel photobioreactor. The construction of multi-tubular photobioreactor allowed for the lowest energy requirements but also predetermined the highest temperature sensitivity and led to a significant reduction of Chlorella productivity in extraordinary warm summers 2018 and 2019. To meet the requirements of sustainable yearlong microalgal production in the context of global change, further development towards hybrid microalgal cultivation systems, combining the advantages of open and closed systems, can be expected.

Keywords: microalgae; biomass; photobioreactors; power consumption; Chlorella; power input; sustainability; lipids; temperature stress; photoinhibition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/5/1338/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/5/1338/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:5:p:1338-:d:508393

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().