Cultivation of Polar Microalgae in a Rotating Flat-Panel Photobioreactor

Abstract

With the increasing urbanisation of the polar regions, the demand for sustainable technologies that are able to transform waste materials into high-value products is growing. For the production of microalgal biomass, nutrients contained in wastewater or carbon dioxide in flue gas can be used. Microalgae strains that have adapted to the extreme climatic conditions of polar regions appear to be a suitable alternative to conventional industrially cultivated microalgae species. Nevertheless, technologies for the production of polar microalgae can also be applied in areas of central and eastern Europe where climatic conditions are not suitable for year-round cultivation of conventional microalgae. For isolated polar microalgae species, a photobioreactor able to rotate according to the current position of the sun has been designed. The rotating flat-panel photobioreactor is able to efficiently use the incident solar radiation, which is crucial for microalgae growth. The designed concept of the rotating photobioreactor has been successfully tested in extreme climatic conditions at the Czech Arctic Research Station in Svalbard.