Date of Graduation
5-2013
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering
Degree Level
Undergraduate
Department
Chemical Engineering
Advisor/Mentor
Beitle, Robert R.
Committee Member/Reader
Lutz-Rechtin, Tammy
Abstract
This study developed and evaluated a novel method to recover the microalgae species Arthrospira platensis from a closed helical photo bioreactor system. A recovery apparatus was designed and shown to increase recovery by 40% via periodic online recovery runs during exponential growth phase of biomass. Considerations for the apparatus design included the low shear tolerance of the algae and the necessity for a closed system in order to monitor CO2 consumption. The recovery method draws on methods used for large scale recovery as reported in literature by Vonshak and Shimmatsu [1], [2]. This work seeks to improve reactor biomass yield for generating sugar extracts from A. platensis which may be used subsequently as a feedstock to generate recombinant proteins from E. coli.
Citation
Hurst, M. (2013). Novel method for sequential batch recovery of biomass from a helical photobioreactor. Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/cheguht/5