Photo Bio Reactor

During 1998-99, Nick Kleinjan (Undergraduate Research Assistant) working for Dr. Gary Anderson built and tested a Prototype PBR. The PBR was 10.67” x 10.67” (271 mm x 271 mm) with a depth of 2” (50 mm).  The volume of the reactor area was 3.55 L and an algal biomass (Synechococcus Leopoliensis) of 7.1 g/L was produced in 14 days.  Light was provided by 650 nm LEDs on circuit boards provided by DAKTRONICS, Inc., on each side of the PBR.  A board provided 14.1 W yielding a light intensity of 6.04x10¹⁴mmol/m²/s (0.073m² surface area per side).  The tested system is intended to produce an algal biomass of 10g/L. The yield concentration achieved by the prototype PBR was 7.10g/L, which was much higher than 3g/L typically produced.  With the knowledge gained from 3.55L (1 gallon) PBR, work has started to develop a scaled up PBR (of 500 gallon). 

The following figures show prototype PBR at different stages in algae growth.
Initial stage	Second stage
Third stage	Fourth stage
Fifth stage	Final stage