Print Email Facebook Twitter Optical behavior of algae particles in photobioreactors Title Optical behavior of algae particles in photobioreactors Author Hannis, K.G. Contributor Van Ommen, R. (mentor) Kleerebezem, R. (mentor) Faculty Applied Sciences Department Product & Process Engineering Programme Sustainable Energy Technology Date 2013-04-02 Abstract Algae have been shown to be a promising source of potential biofuel, as well as other beneficial by products. The cultivation process of algae is still open to refinement, however; bioreactor design can still be optimized. One of the factors that affect light penetration through a bioreactor growing algae is cell shape. This study endeavored to find (i) if a shape factor could be determined for different cell shapes that could be applied to existing or future photobioreactor models and (ii) if algae cells could be modeled as titanium dioxide particles, in order to make use of existing, extensive work done on their optical properties and behavior. The specific scattering, absorption, and extinction coefficients for six different species of algae (of three different cell shapes) and P25 Degussa powder were determined using an integrating sphere set-up. Their optical properties and behavior were analyzed and compared. Cells from the same genus behaved similarly and smaller particles, regardless of shape, generally inhibited light penetration into the reactor more than larger particles. Therefore, algae species with larger cells can be grown in higher concentrations than those with small cells before light extinction poses an issue. Cell chemical make-up is also known to affect light penetration, and in this study it appeared that more protein-heavy cells block more light than cells which are mostly lipids. Furthermore, the algae particles behaved very differently from those of titania; specifically, they are strong absorbers and titania particles are not. These initial results would suggest that it is inadvisable to model algae particles as agglomerates of titanium dioxide. Subject algaeopticalbioreactorphotobioreactorparticleshape To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:824684ff-c92f-4a2c-8457-b820ea574240 Part of collection Student theses Document type master thesis Rights (c) 2013 Hannis, K.G. Files PDF Kathryn_Hannis_SET_MEP.pdf 2.17 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:824684ff-c92f-4a2c-8457-b820ea574240/datastream/OBJ/view