Algae Photo Bio Reactor
Nessuno effetto è in natura sanza ragione No occurrence in nature is without reason – Leonardo da Vinci
ecoduna's hanging gardens is a game-changing algae cultivation system which enables the production of microalgae in a particularly effective manner.
Today, algae are considered to be one of the most promising renewable raw materials. Green biotechnology is working intensively on products from these versatile organisms.
Algae are the basis of a multitude of valuable substances which are employed in a wide variety of fields: medicine, pharmacy, chemistry, food and cosmetic industry, animal nutrition, biofuel production and technical implementations (e.g. adhesives). Furthermore, they can be used for water treatment, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and as a raw material many for other important applications.
In a photobioreactor (PBR) algae can utilise a multiple amount of light compared to a pond system. During the amplified photosynthesis, algae use the energy of photons for moving electrons in the chlorophyll molecule and therefore getting a higher level of energy. This yield will be used for splitting water in O2 molecules and protons.
The latter are going through energetic cascades to finally convert the CO2 from an industrial source into organic substances.
Therefore, industrial algae production can not only provide vast amounts of renewable raw materials, but also sequester excess CO2.
Algae cultivation is extremely efficient in land use and can be employed in areas which are unsuitable for conventional farming. Central Asia for instance is extremely arid, conventional agriculture is often simply not possible. ecoduna's “hanging gardens” system is designed to be used in badlands as well. Therefore, our product can help less developed countries to become independent from imports of proteins or energy sources. It could be even feasible to build algae production units in cities, since they could make use the unwanted water and CO2 and improve the air quality by the emission of oxygen. Concerning waste water, it could serve as a huge nutrient storage for a successful cultivation of microalgae. Tons of nitrogen and phosphorus are solved in these waters and the algae could use them to incorporate these elements and build up valuable biomass.
In order to breed the algae effectively on an industrial scale, a sufficient source of CO2 is one of the basic requirements; another one is the maximum utilization of sunlight. Algae demand a fraction of the light available over the day. Unfortunately, most known systems shade their system to protect the algae from "light inhibition".
ecoduna has chosen a different and more intelligent way: light inhibition is prevented by diluting the light. The second important feature of hanging gardens is the enormously increased surface exposed to the sun. By these measures, a far better productivity is achieved, resulting in a technologically outstanding competitive advantage in the cultivation of microalgae. No other system is able to cultivate algae with such a quantity and quality like the PBRs of ecoduna! If algae could choose a system where to breed, they would definitely choose an ecoduna-PBR!
Each element of a hanging gardens photobioreactor is designed to follow the sun's rays, like the sunflower and other heliotropic plants, in order to optimise the use of light. No part of the culture is ever in the shade. This optimisation can increase natural light input by 10-15%.
With the use of the patented hanging gardens system, a reactor requires far less energy to operate than other vertical reactors: Hydrostatic pressure compensation propels the algae solution through the reactor without any extra energy input.
An important feature of the hanging gardens reactor is continuity, a central requirement of modern chemical engineering. Hanging gardens is one of the very few reactors enabling the algae to be bred in a continuous flowing system until they are ready to be harvested. Additionally, our reactor can be maintenanced while it is in operation, saving time and money.
6 meters high towers of 12 reactor panels will turn and follow the course of the sun over the day. The light will stream into the reactors in flat angle, so there is no overheating or harmful light inhibition. Rest light will be reflected to the neighbouring panel.
No algae cell is ever in the dark of photo limitation nor will it ever be exposed to photo inhibition. All the natural light (or additional artificial light) will be used; the photoactive volume is 440 litres on each m2 footprint.