Photobioreactor

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Moss photobioreactor with Physcomitrella patens

A photobioreactor (sometimes abbreviated PBR) is a bioreactor that incorporates some type of light source to provide photonic energy input into the reactor. Also, an open pond could be seen as photobioreactor, but mostly the term photobioreactor only refers to closed systems, systems closed to the environment having no direct exchange of gases and contaminants with the environment^[1]. Nowadays, some extremophilic organisms (organisms that can grow under extreme conditions) are grown into open ponds. However, many other microalgae are promising for the production of an enormous variety of compounds ^[2]. To cultivate also these algae and their products, monocultures have to be maintained and for that, enclosed photobioreactors have to be used. ^{[3] [4]}. A photobioreactor can be described as an enclosed,^[5] illuminated culture vessel designed for controlled biomass production of phototrophic liquid cell suspension cultures. Photobioreactors, despite their costs, have several major advantages over open systems. They can^[3]:

• prevent or minimize contamination, permitting cultivating of axenic algal monocultures (culture consisting of only one species of microalgae),
• offer better control over biocultural conditions (pH, light intensity, carbon dioxide, temperature).
• prevent water evaporation,
• lower carbon dioxide losses due to out gassing,
• permit higher cell concentrations.
• permit the production of complex biopharmaceuticals, e.g. in knockout mosses, under GMPconditions, a biotechnology known as molecular farming^[6]

On the other hand, photobioreactors have several limiting factors, including: cooling, mixing, control of oxygen accumulation and biofouling. As a result, these systems more expensive to build and operate than ponds. Cheaper, next generation systems are currently under development, and engineers are working on exploiting byproducts to make production of microalgae commercially attractive. An overview of production systems can be found at the research page of Wageningen UR.

See also

• Algae
• Microalgae
• Microbiofuels
• AlgaePARC
• Biological pump
• Iron fertilization
• Ocean acidification
• Phytoplankton
• Biofuel

External links

• Bioreactors

References

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