Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Environmental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, MAHSA University, Jenjarom, Malaysia
  • 2 Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Semenyih, Malaysia
  • 3 Department of Applied Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Semenyih, Malaysia
  • 4 Fundamental and Applied Sciences Department, Centre of Innovative Nanostructures & Nanodevices (COINN), Institute of Autonomous System, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, Malaysia
  • 5 Chemical Engineering Department, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar, Malaysia
  • 6 Centre for Biofuel and Biochemical Research, Institute of Self-Sustainable Building, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar, Malaysia
  • 7 Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar, Malaysia
  • 8 College of Food Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
Bioengineered, 2020 12;11(1):61-69.
PMID: 31884878 DOI: 10.1080/21655979.2019.1704536

Abstract

Chlorella sorokiniana CY-1 was cultivated using palm oil mill effluent (POME) in a novel-designed photobioreactor (NPBR) and glass-made vessel photobioreactor (PBR). The comparison was made on biomass and lipid productions, as well as its pollutants removal efficiencies. NPBR is transparent and is developed in thin flat panels with a high surface area per volume ratio. It is equipped with microbubbling and baffles retention, ensuring effective light and CO2 utilization. The triangular shape of this reactor at the bottom serves to ease microalgae cell harvesting by sedimentation. Both biomass and lipid yields attained in NPBR were 2.3-2.9 folds higher than cultivated in PBR. The pollutants removal efficiencies achieved were 93.7% of chemical oxygen demand, 98.6% of total nitrogen and 96.0% of total phosphorus. Mathematical model revealed that effective light received and initial mass contributes toward successful microalgae cultivation. Overall, the results revealed the potential of NPBR integration in Chlorella sorokiniana CY-1 cultivation, with an aim to achieve greater feasibility in microalgal-based biofuel real application and for environmental sustainability.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.