Photobiohydrogen production and high-performance photobioreactor - Solar Energy Sciences and Engineering Applications - page 355

Figure 11.4.3 Flat panel photobioreactor configurations: (1) membrane gas pump; (2) gas bag for col-
lection of produced gas; (3) pressure vessel; (4) pressure valve; (5) mass flow controller;
(6) condenser, and; (7) pH/redox electrode (Hoekema et al., 2002).
was well suited to the outdoor mass cultivation. The advantages of the high surface-
to-volume ratio, flexible orientation with respect to the sun's rays, effective mixing,
oxygen removal and good control of environmental and nutritional conditions were
provided by this design, allowing the operation at high cell concentrations and achiev-
ing high biomass productivity. Besides, a V-shaped flat panel photobioreactor that
offered the above-mentioned advantages was also developed to improve the perfor-
mance of the photobioreactor (Iqbal et al., 1993). Gilbert et al. (2011) developed a
flat panel photobioreactor with rocking motion (Figure 11.4.4) to overcome the limita-
tion caused by the poor level of agitation for improving light penetration. The flat panel
photobioreactor with rocking motion consisted of a teflon frame sandwiched between
two acrylic sheets with neoprene gaskets. The rocking motion was then achieved with
the help of a motor and an eccentric motion arrangement. The results proved that the
flat panel photobioreactor with rocking motion had a high potential for the large-scale
photobiohydrogen production.