KR20170111015A - Photobioreactor with semi-cylinder shape for cultivation of microalgae - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a semi-cylindrical bioreactor for culturing microalgae, and more particularly, to a semi-cylindrical bioreactor for culturing microalgae, which comprises a reactor main body having a semi-cylindrical shape having a curved surface portion and a flat surface portion, The air flow is controlled through the bottom of the reactor main body and the air flow nozzles are provided to circulate the microalgae culture liquid in the reactor main body and the air diffusing nozzles are arranged on both sides It is possible to prevent the generation of sediments by providing a light amount adjuster on the outer side of the reactor body, wherein the light amount adjuster is rotatably installed, and the irradiation range of the artificial light and the irradiation range thereof It is possible to adjust the angle so as to cultivate microalgae Have to adjust more quickly and easily the required amount of light effects.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a semi-cylindrical photobioreactor for microalgae cultivation,

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a photobioreactor, and more particularly, to a semi-cylindrical photobioreactor capable of easily and easily performing a light amount control required for culturing microalgae.

As is well known, microalgae are high-value-added products and bio-energy source for the purpose of biodiesel production, and have the property of growing and metabolizing through photosynthesis like plants.

Microalgae are more complex and more difficult to cultivate than other microorganisms such as Bacteria, where each culture element such as the concentration of the strain, light, pH, nutrient supply, and supply of mixed gas affects different culture elements Condition must be provided.

Most microalgae require a supply of light energy that is appropriate for their growth, and when light energy higher than the required metabolic energy is supplied, their growth can be suppressed and killed by photolysis.

As the amount of light that can be transmitted through the photobioreactor changes when the micro-algae grow and the concentration increases, it is necessary to keep the concentration of the micro-algae constant in order to supply the optimum amount of light related to the growth into the photobioreactor There is a lack of a system that can accurately reflect this.

The most important factor to consider in designing a photobioreactor is the transfer of material inside the reactor. There are many species of microalgae that have their own ability to move by themselves, while some species have flagella and cilia depending on their species.

Thus, in a photobioreactor, microalgae cells tend to sink downward when there is no mixing device to induce proper agitation, which results in inefficiency of non-uniform growth, space utilization and nutrient utilization.

As such, if the internal mass transfer due to the absence of the mixing device is uneven, the microalgae will not be able to fully take up nutrients and will not grow well and die. The installation of a circulation system to ensure uniform mass transfer within the reactor is considered another important factor in the photobioreactor.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2016-0000206 (published on January 04, 2016) Korean Patent Publication No. 10-1998-0025294 (published on July 06, 1998) Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2000-0046481 (published on July 25, 2000)

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to overcome the above-mentioned problems and to provide a microfluidic device having a microfluidic device with a circulator for improving the mass transfer efficiency through internal circulation, And a semi-cylindrical photobioreactor for algal culture.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a semi-cylindrical alga photobioreactor for culturing microalgae, comprising a reactor main body made of a light-transmissive material having an internal space for containing microalgae culture liquid and supplying an external light quantity, Wherein the main body is formed of a curved surface portion with one side wall having a preset curvature and the other side wall surface is formed with a flat portion having a higher light transmittance than the curved portion.

Further, it is preferable that the apparatus further comprises an acidification piping section for causing a carbon dioxide mixed gas to diffuse in the culture medium of the microalgae in the reactor body, and the acidification piping section includes at least one acidic nozzle which penetrates the bottom surface of the reactor body and is installed so as to be able to diffuse can do.

The diffuser may include cornering nozzle nozzles provided at both corner portions of the plane portion and the curved surface portion, and / or cornering nozzle nozzles provided at the center edge portion of the curved portion.

The apparatus may further include a light intensity controller provided at an outer side of the reactor body to adjust an irradiation range and an irradiation angle of the artificial light.

In addition, it is preferable that the light quantity controller is installed on a plane side of the reactor main body.

The light quantity controller may include a rotation axis which is rotatably fixed to an upper end and a lower end of the reactor main body in such a manner that a fixed side end portion thereof is rotatable and a rotatable shaft portion which is rotatable in the tile- And an artificial light source fixedly installed along the light guide plate.

In addition, the pivotal axis may be rotatably fixed at a central portion in the width direction of the plane portion of the reactor body, or eccentrically and rotatably shaft-fixed from a widthwise center portion of the plane portion of the reactor body.

The light amount controller may further include a reflector that is rotatably installed on the pivot shaft together with the artificial light source and limits the irradiation range of artificial light emitted from the artificial light source to a flat surface portion of the reactor main body.

According to the semi-cylindrical bioreactor for culturing a microalgae of the present invention, the reactor main body is formed into a semi-cylindrical shape having a curved surface portion and a flat surface portion, So that the incident light amount can be adjusted according to the installation direction.

In addition, it is also possible to provide a method of circulating the microalgae culture liquid through the bottom of the reactor body by providing the acidic nozzles and circulating the microalgae culture liquid inside the reactor main body, and also, by arranging the acidic nozzles on both side corner portions formed by the plane portion and the curved surface portion and / So that it is possible to prevent the occurrence of sediments.

In addition, a light quantity controller is provided outside the reactor body, and the light quantity controller is rotatably installed, and the irradiation range and the irradiation angle of the artificial light can be adjusted through the light quantity adjuster, so that the light quantity required for culturing the microalgae can be easily and easily adjusted .

1 is a perspective view illustrating a photobioreactor for culturing microalgae according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a plan sectional view of the photobioreactor for microalgae cultivation cut along the line II-II in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a front view showing the microalgae culture circulation state of the photobioreactor for microalgae culture of FIG. 1; FIG.
FIG. 4 is a side view showing the microalgae culture circulation state of the photobioreactor for microalgae culture of FIG. 1; FIG.
5 is a perspective view showing a photobioreactor for culturing microalgae according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a plan view of the photobioreactor for microalgae cultivation cut along the line VI-VI of FIG.
7 is a plan sectional view of a photobioreactor for microalgae cultivation showing a modified example according to the state of installation of the light amount controller of FIG.
FIG. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state in which the irradiation angle of the artificial light and the irradiation range are controlled through the light amount controller of FIG. 6;

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily carry out the present invention. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. In order to clearly illustrate the present invention, parts not related to the description are omitted, and the same or similar components are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout the specification.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a photobioreactor for culturing microalgae according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of a photobioreactor for microalgae culture cut along the line II-II of FIG. 1 .

1 and 2, the photobioreactor 1 for culturing the microalgae of the present embodiment comprises a reactor body 10, a lower movable pedestal 20, an upper lid 30, As shown in FIG.

The reactor main body 10 is made of a light-transmitting material having an internal accommodation space 15 for receiving the microalgae culture liquid and receiving light quantity from the outside.

Particularly, in the present embodiment, the reactor body 10 is formed of the curved surface portion 12 having one predetermined curvature and the other side surface of the plane portion 11 is formed to have a higher light transmittance than the curved surface portion 12, And has a semi-cylindrical shape.

In other words, at one wall portion formed by the curved surface portion 12, most of the light sources incident through the other of the light sources incidence in the direction perpendicular to the curved surface are reflected or refracted, The transmittance is low.

On the other hand, in the case of the tile sidewall surface portion including the flat surface portion 11, the amount of vertical light incident through the curved surface portion 12 is relatively larger than that of the curved surface portion 12, And most of the incident light is incident thereon, the light transmittance is relatively high.

By thus forming the reactor main body 10 into a semi-cylindrical shape having a curved surface portion 12 and a flat surface portion 11 only by changing the installation direction of the reactor main body 10 installed according to the position of the light source The amount of light necessary for culturing microalgae can be adjusted.

The lower moving pedestal 20 is configured to support the semi-cylindrical reactor body 10 on the upper side and to move more easily through the moving wheels 21 installed on the lower side. In addition, So that the installation direction of the reactor main body 10 can be adjusted more easily.

Meanwhile, the inside of the lower moving pedestal 20 may be provided with a separate internal space inside the reactor body 10, which will be described later, in which the acid gas piping for supplying the carbon dioxide gas necessary for culturing the microalgae can be installed.

The upper lid 30 is constructed to cover and cover the upper opening of the reactor body 10 and is connected to the exhaust gas supply pipe 50 for culturing the microalgae and the microalgae discharge pipe for harvesting the grown microalgae 70 and an acidity control pipe 60 for controlling the acidity of the culture liquid may be connected to the inside of the reactor body 10.

The culture medium supply pipe 50 extends through the upper cover 30 and extends to connect a culture medium storage tank (not shown) to be supplied into the culture medium reactor body 10 stored in the culture medium storage tank (not shown) do.

On the other hand, on the medium feed pipe 50, an additional power device such as a medium feed pump (not shown) is used to control the feed amount of the medium supplied into the reactor main body 10 to feed the minute algae into the reactor main body 10, So that it can be cultured.

The microalgae discharge piping 70 extends through the upper cover 30 and extends to connect the inside of the microalgae culture liquid and the microalgae harvesting tank (not shown), so that the microalgae cultured inside the reactor main body 10 can be finely So that the harvesting tank 41 is automatically placed in the harvesting tank.

The acidity control pipe 60 is connected to the upper lid 30 through an acid injection pipe 61 connected to supply acid (HCl) to the culture liquid to regulate acidity in the culture liquid, and a base (NaOH) And a salt injection piping 62 for supplying the water.

In addition, the aeration piping section 40 causes the carbon dioxide mixed gas to diffuse into the reactor main body 10 in the microalgae culture liquid.

Here, the heat generation piping unit 40 may include at least one or more heat generating nozzles 46 that penetrate the bottom surface of the reactor body 10 and are installed so as to be able to diffuse.

In the present embodiment, the diffuser nozzles 46 have corner dividing nozzles 46 (a) and 46 (b), which are provided on both side corners of the plane portion 11 and the curved surface portion 12, And a center distributor nozzle 46 (c) provided at a center edge portion of the curved surface portion 12, as shown in FIG.

However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and it is possible to selectively constitute the corner diffuser nozzles 46 (a), 46 (b) or the center diffuser nozzles 46 (a), 46 It is natural to be able to.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing the microalgae culture circulation state of the photobioreactor for culturing the microalgae of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a side view of the microalgae culture circulation state of the photoreactor for culturing the microalgae of FIG.

3, carbon dioxide gas is diffused in the culture liquid through the bottoms of both side corners of the reactor body 10 through the corner diffuser nozzles 46 (a), 46 (b) When the upward flow is induced at the two corner portions by the bubbles, the downward flow naturally occurs at the central portion in the width direction and the internal circulation occurs.

At the same time, as shown in FIG. 4, carbon dioxide gas is diffused in the culture liquid through the bottom of the center edge portion of the curved surface portion 12 through the center acidifier nozzle 46 (c) When the upward flow is induced at the central edge portion of the curved surface portion, the downward flow naturally flows forward to thereby cause the internal circulation.

Thus, by having a virtuous cycle structure of the culture liquid filled in the reactor main body 10 through the corner diffuser nozzles 46 (a), 46 (b) and the center diffuser nozzle 46 (c) It is possible to improve the mixing rate of the carbon dioxide gas in the culture liquid and to prevent deposition of deposits and the like at the bottom corner portion.

A second embodiment of the semi-cylindrical photobioreactor for culturing microalgae of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 5 to 8. The same and similar components as those of the first embodiment described above are denoted by the same reference numerals And a repetitive description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a photobioreactor for culturing microalgae according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a plan view of a photobioreactor for microalgae cultivation cut along the line VI-VI of FIG. 1 .

5 and 6, the photobioreactor 100 for culturing microalgae of the present embodiment is different from the photoreactive bioreactor 1 for culturing the microalgae of the first embodiment in that the reactor main body 10 And a light amount adjuster 110 which is provided to adjust the irradiation range and the irradiation angle of the artificial light from one side of the light source.

Here, the light amount controller 110 is provided on the side of the plane portion 11 having a higher light transmission rate than the curved surface portion 12 of the reactor main body 10, so that the light amount necessary for culturing the microalgae can be easily and easily adjusted .

In the present embodiment, the light amount controller 110 includes a rotary shaft 111, a artificial light source 115, a reflector 116, and the like.

The rotary shaft 111 is rotatably fixed to the stationary side end portion 111a at the lower end on the plane portion 11 side of the reactor main body 10, So that the light source 115 is rotatably fixedly installed so as to extend along the height direction of the plane portion 11 of the reactor main body 10. [

The fixed side end portion 111a of the rotary shaft 111 is provided at the central portion in the width direction of the flat surface portion 11 of the reactor main body 10 so that the artificial light source 115 is located at the center of the reactor main body 10 So that the light amount can be supplied with various distances and angles at the center or eccentric position of the plane portion 11. [

7, the fixed side end portion 111a of the rotary shaft 111 is spaced apart from the center in the width direction of the plane portion 11 of the reactor main body 10 so that natural light It is also possible to freely adjust the position of the artificial light source 115 in an unobstructed state.

The artificial light source 115 exemplifies the LED light source in the present embodiment so as to supply or replenish the light amount required for culturing the microalgae into the reactor main body 110, It is needless to say that various light emitting means for irradiating the artificial light source to the inside can be applied.

The reflector 116 is rotatably installed on the pivot shaft 11 together with the artificial light source 115 and is irradiated onto the plane portion 11 of the reactor body 10 through the artificial light source 115 So that the irradiation range of the artificial light source 115 is adjusted.

FIG. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state in which the irradiation angle of the artificial light and the irradiation range are controlled through the light amount controller of FIG. 6;

8, the light quantity controller 1110 of the present embodiment is configured such that the artificial light source 115 is disposed in the reactor main body 10 through a change in the angle formed by the rotation axis 111 and the plane portion 11 of the reactor main body 10 10 from the plane portion 11 and the eccentric distance from the center of the plane portion 11 in the width direction.

The artificial light source 115 provided on the rotation side end portion of the rotary shaft 111 is rotated together with the reflection shade 116 to generate an artificial light source irradiated from the artificial light source 115 to the flat surface portion 11 of the reactor body 10 115 and the irradiation range of the irradiation range and the irradiation range.

As described above, the semi-cylindrical alga photobioreactor 100 for culturing microalgae of the present embodiment has a first rotation angle of the rotary shaft 111 with respect to the flat plate 11 of the reactor body 10 and a first rotation angle of the rotary shaft 111 with respect to the rotary shaft 111 The second angle of rotation between the light source 115 and the reflector 116 is adjusted to freely adjust the angle of irradiation and the irradiation range of the artificial light source irradiated from the artificial light source 115 to the plane portion 11 of the reactor main body 10 So that the amount of incident light required for culturing microalgae can be evenly distributed, or the light amount can be adjusted more precisely without using a separate dimmer, do.

The light amount controller 110 controls the first rotation angle of the rotation shaft 111 with respect to the plane portion 11 of the reactor main body 10 and the first rotation angle of the artificial light source 115 with respect to the rotation shaft 111, The present invention is not limited to this, and an illuminometer may be installed at a plurality of points in the reactor body 10 to control the micro-algae culture The first rotation angle of the rotation shaft 111 and the rotation angle of the rotation shaft 111 through respective drive motors (not shown) provided to be connected to the drive shaft end 111a and the rotation shaft end 111b of the rotation shaft 111, It is of course possible to automatically adjust the second rotation angle of the artificial light source 115 and the reflection shade 116 with respect to the base 111. [

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, but many variations and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. And it goes without saying that they belong to the scope of the present invention.

1, 100: photobioreactor 10: reactor body
11: plane portion 12: curved portion
20: lower moving pedestal 21: moving wheel
30: upper cover 40:
46: aeration nozzle 46 (a), 46 (b): corner nozzle
46 (c): Center acid nozzle 50: Medium supply piping
60: acidity control pipe 61: acid injection pipe
62: Salt injection piping 70: Micro algae discharge piping
110: light quantity control unit 111:
111a: fixed side end portion 111b: rotation side end portion
115: artificial light source 116: reflector

Claims (8)

And a reactor body made of a light-transmissive material having an internal accommodation space for containing the microalgae culture liquid and supplying light quantity from the outside,

The reactor body comprises:
Wherein one wall surface is formed of a curved surface portion having predetermined curvature,
And the other side wall surface has a flat portion such that the light transmittance is higher than that of the curved portion.
The method of claim 1,
Further comprising an acidic piping section for causing a carbon dioxide mixed gas to diffuse in the microalgae culture liquid in the reactor main body,

The above-
And at least one or more acidic nozzles penetrating through the bottom surface of the reactor main body so as to be able to diffuse, the semi-cylindrical alga photocatalytic reactor for culturing microalgae.
4. The method of claim 3,
The above-
Cornering nozzle nozzles provided at both side corner portions of the plane portion and the curved surface portion on a plane, and / or
And a center acid generator nozzle provided at a central edge portion of the curved surface portion for culturing the microalgae.
The method of claim 1,
Further comprising a light intensity controller for adjusting an irradiation range and an irradiation angle of artificial light from an outer side of the reactor body.
The method of claim 1,
The light amount controller includes:
And a semi-cylindrical photobioreactor for culturing the microalgae.
The method of claim 5,
The light amount controller includes:
A rotating shaft which is rotatably fixed to an upper end and a lower end of a plane portion of the reactor body so that the fixed end is rotatable,
And a synthetic light source fixedly installed along the height direction of the plane portion of the reactor body so as to be rotatable at the tile-side rotation side end portion of the rotary shaft.
The method of claim 6,
Wherein the pivotal axis is rotatably fixed at the center in the width direction of the plane portion of the reactor main body.
The method of claim 6,
The light amount controller includes:
Further comprising a reflection gantry rotatably installed on the pivotal shaft together with the artificial light source to limit an irradiation range of artificial light irradiated from the artificial light source to a flat surface portion of the reactor main body.

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