The aim of the paper is to present the hydrodynamic, mass transfer and illumination characteristics of a laboratory helical-tube photobioreactor Biostat PBR-2S, commercially available and used in many laboratories in Poland and worldwide. The investigated hydrodynamics parameters were: mean liquid circulation rate, liquid velocity/residence time in the tubular part of the apparatus and mixing time, measured in the wide range of rotary speed of the circulation pump. The influence of the aeration intensity on these parameters was also checked. The volumetric oxygen and carbon dioxide transfer coefficients in the liquid phase and their dependency on the liquid circulation rate and gas inflow rate were determined. The experiments were performed in tap water and then in a real three-phase cultivation broth at the end of thermophilic cyanobacteria T. synechococus growth. For the final evaluation of the tested PBR there were series of test cultivations run under different conditions of illumination. The highest final concentration of the biomass of tested cyanobacteria reached the relatively high value of 4.38 g/dm3 of the dry biomass, although the process conditions were not fully optimized. The laboratory photobioreactor PBR-2S proved to be a good tool for investigations of microalgae cultivation processes. The presented results and practical observations may help to analyze and understand the mutual influence of the specific process parameters in the described PBR, especially during autotrophic organism cultivations.
When and where did life first appear on Earth? Humankind has been pondering this question for centuries. The discovery of ancient microalgae is providing a partial answer.
Density, composition and domination structure of the sea ice microalgae in the Admiralty Bay (South Shetland Islands) were investigated in 1983. Algae were recorded both in discoloured and in colourless sea ice from June to October. The highest algae density, amounting to 5 x 105 cells in 1 cm3 was observed till the end of August, the diatoms Nitzschia cylindrus and N. curta being the dominant species. A total of 95 algal taxa. mostly diatoms, were recorded. Air temperature seems to be an important factor influencing the development of algae in sea ice.