RT Journal Article
T1 Horizontal or vertical photobioreactors? How to improve microalgae photosynthetic efficiency
A1 Cuaresma Franco, María
A1 Janssen, Marcel
A1 Vílchez Lobato, Carlos
A1 Wijffels, René H.
AB The productivity of a vertical outdoor photobioreactor was quantitatively assessed and compared to a horizontal reactor. Daily light cycles in southern Spain were simulated and applied to grow the microalgae Chlorella sorokiniana in a flat panel photobioreactor.The maximal irradiance around noon differs from 400 micromol photons m-2 s-1 in the vertical position to 1800 micromol photons m-2 s-1 in the horizontal position. The highest volumetric productivity was achieved in the simulated horizontal position, 4 g kg culture-1 d-1. The highest photosynthetic efficiency was found for the vertical simulation, 1.3 g of biomass produced per mol of PAR photons supplied, which compares favorably to the horizontal position (0.85 g mol-1) and to the theoretical maximal yield (1.8 g mol-1). These results prove that productivity per unit of ground area could be greatly enhanced by placing the photobioreactors vertically.
PB Elsevier
SN 1873-2976 (electrónico)
YR 2011
FD 2011-02-02
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10272/24953
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10272/24953
LA eng
NO Cuaresma, M., Janssen, M., Vílchez, C., Wijffels, R. (2011) Horizontal or Vertical photobioreactors? How to improve microalgae photosynthetic efficiency. Bioresource Technology 102: 5129–5137
NO This work was financially supported by the University of Huelva and Junta de Andalucía (Proyectos de Excelencia, AGR-4337) in Spain, and a SenterNovem subsidy (the Netherlands) in the frame of the ‘‘Unieke Kans Regeling’’ program, Grant No. 02013, with Technogrow BV as industrial partner.
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 1 jun 2026