Centre for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 23, Box 2461, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
Lab Aquatic Biology, Microbial and Molecular Systems, KU Leuven Kulak, E. Sabbelaan 53, B-8500 Kortrijk, Belgium.
Bioresour Technol. 2014 Mar;155:410-7. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2013.05.026. Epub 2013 May 17.
A new and effective concept is proposed for microalgae cultivation and pre-harvesting using a membrane photobioreactor (MPBR), in which the bioreactor is coupled to membrane filtration by cultivating Chlorella vulgaris. A basic simulation was first performed to understand the behavior of the hybrid system. The effectiveness of the MPBR for cultivation and pre-harvesting was proven. The membrane completely retained the biomass, which then was partly recycled into the bioreactor to maintain a high biomass concentration, thus enhancing flexibility and robustness of the system. The MPBR can operate at both higher dilution and higher growth rates, resulting in a 9× higher biomass productivity. In addition, pre-harvesting can be achieved by applying variable concentration factors in the filtration stage. The membrane permeate was recycled to the reactor as feed medium without affecting the algae growth, which offers a substantial reduction of 77% in the water footprint.
提出了一种利用膜生物反应器（MPBR）进行微藻培养和收获前处理的新方法，该方法将生物反应器与膜过滤相结合，培养普通小球藻。首先进行了基础模拟，以了解混合系统的行为。证明了 MPBR 用于培养和收获前处理的有效性。膜完全保留了生物质，然后部分回收至生物反应器中，以维持高生物质浓度，从而增强了系统的灵活性和鲁棒性。MPBR 可以在更高的稀释率和更高的生长速率下运行，从而使生物质生产力提高了 9 倍。此外，还可以通过在过滤阶段应用可变的浓缩因子来进行收获前处理。膜渗透物被回收作为进料介质再循环到反应器中，而不会影响藻类生长，这使得水足迹减少了 77%。
