Classifications

• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
  • C12M—APPARATUS FOR ENZYMOLOGY OR MICROBIOLOGY; APPARATUS FOR CULTURING MICROORGANISMS FOR PRODUCING BIOMASS, FOR GROWING CELLS OR FOR OBTAINING FERMENTATION OR METABOLIC PRODUCTS, i.e. BIOREACTORS OR FERMENTERS
  • C12M21/00—Bioreactors or fermenters specially adapted for specific uses
  • C12M21/02—Photobioreactors
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
  • C12M—APPARATUS FOR ENZYMOLOGY OR MICROBIOLOGY; APPARATUS FOR CULTURING MICROORGANISMS FOR PRODUCING BIOMASS, FOR GROWING CELLS OR FOR OBTAINING FERMENTATION OR METABOLIC PRODUCTS, i.e. BIOREACTORS OR FERMENTERS
  • C12M23/00—Constructional details, e.g. recesses, hinges
  • C12M23/02—Form or structure of the vessel
  • C12M23/06—Tubular
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
  • C12M—APPARATUS FOR ENZYMOLOGY OR MICROBIOLOGY; APPARATUS FOR CULTURING MICROORGANISMS FOR PRODUCING BIOMASS, FOR GROWING CELLS OR FOR OBTAINING FERMENTATION OR METABOLIC PRODUCTS, i.e. BIOREACTORS OR FERMENTERS
  • C12M41/00—Means for regulation, monitoring, measurement or control, e.g. flow regulation
  • C12M41/12—Means for regulation, monitoring, measurement or control, e.g. flow regulation of temperature
  • C12M41/18—Heat exchange systems, e.g. heat jackets or outer envelopes
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
  • C12M—APPARATUS FOR ENZYMOLOGY OR MICROBIOLOGY; APPARATUS FOR CULTURING MICROORGANISMS FOR PRODUCING BIOMASS, FOR GROWING CELLS OR FOR OBTAINING FERMENTATION OR METABOLIC PRODUCTS, i.e. BIOREACTORS OR FERMENTERS
  • C12M41/00—Means for regulation, monitoring, measurement or control, e.g. flow regulation
  • C12M41/40—Means for regulation, monitoring, measurement or control, e.g. flow regulation of pressure
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
  • C12M—APPARATUS FOR ENZYMOLOGY OR MICROBIOLOGY; APPARATUS FOR CULTURING MICROORGANISMS FOR PRODUCING BIOMASS, FOR GROWING CELLS OR FOR OBTAINING FERMENTATION OR METABOLIC PRODUCTS, i.e. BIOREACTORS OR FERMENTERS
  • C12M41/00—Means for regulation, monitoring, measurement or control, e.g. flow regulation
  • C12M41/48—Automatic or computerized control
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
  • C12N—MICROORGANISMS OR ENZYMES; COMPOSITIONS THEREOF; PROPAGATING, PRESERVING, OR MAINTAINING MICROORGANISMS; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING; CULTURE MEDIA
  • C12N1/00—Microorganisms, e.g. protozoa; Compositions thereof; Processes of propagating, maintaining or preserving microorganisms or compositions thereof; Processes of preparing or isolating a composition containing a microorganism; Culture media therefor
  • C12N1/12—Unicellular algae; Culture media therefor

Definitions

• This invention relates to the field of biology, and particularly to the cultivation of microalgae for industrial purposes in order to extract from them substances that can be used for a wide variety of purposes.
• People have long been aware of, for example, the importance of some types of algae as food for humans, and these algae have been and are still being cultivated in open-air tanks that contain the substances in which the algae reproduce.
• algae are cultivated in a similar fashion in order to extract substances that have applications in the field of pharmaceuticals or that are used as fertilizer in agriculture, or as fodder for animals, and so on.
• microalgae Various species of microalgae are used for the purposes described above, and these are well known to the specialist in the field: of them, let us mention a few by way of example: anabaena, which contains fertilizer-type substances, dunaliella, which contains chemicals that can be used in the fields of chemistry and pharmaceuticals, chlorella and spirulina, which mainly contain substances with a high protein value, etc.
• concentration of the active elements or of the desired substances in the organisms of the algae is very high, and in addition each alga contains numerous substances that are useful for a particular purpose.
• we present below a more detailed description of the above-mentioned alga spirulina, but it should be noted that a similar description could also be given for other kinds or species of algae.
• Spirulina is a single cell of the planktoid type with the characteristic that protein comprises such a large portion of i composition that it is a preferred food for those who suffer fr endemic nutritional deficiencies and a source of active substances and protein for the pharmaceutical industry.
• the cultivation of this alga, even with extremely rudimentary means of production, has long been done in places where the environmental conditions make it possible to do so in the open air.
• the titer of protein which is equal to 60-70%, is not the only property that the alga possesses. As a matter of fact, being a living phototropic cell, it also contains unsaturated fatty acids, vitamins (particularly B 12 , the high content of which, between 3 and 9 g/kg, cause it to be considered a sourc for vitamin extraction) , and dyes.
• any species of microalgae may, as is still being done today, be carried out in open-air tanks, as already mentioned, i.e., with a fairly high pH, provided, however, that the cultivation is done in regions that do not experience excessively high thermal excursions and have temperatures which, even in the winter months, do not drop so low as to block the growth and reproduction of the microalgae or directly lead to their death.
• the open-air tanks also carry the risk of intrusion by other types of algae or other anaerobic organisms that can develop in the culture, stealing nutrients and often impairing both the reproduction of the microalgae under cultivation and the composition and quantity of extractable substances.
• the process was developed taking into account the results the studies carried out by the Center for Microorganism Studie of the C.N.R. [Italian National Research Council] in Florence microalgae and, in particular, on the alga spirulina, and the object of the invention consists of a process for implementing industrially the cultivation of the microalgae; said process i characterized by the fact that said cultivation is carried out a hydraulic closed circuit: - y causing a liquid containing the algae to circulate;
• Another object of the invention is also a particular type of device that makes it possible for said process to be carried out.
• the attached figure shows only the outline of one possible embodiment of the device, which is intended to be neither restrictive nor limiting with regard to other embodiments that are based on the same concepts as are set forth in the attached claims.
• the above-described process is effectively carried out in the device shown, in which it is possible to cultivate any species of microalgae by appropriately varying, by means of the instruments described below, the maximum and minimum temperature values of the liquid, the kinds of mineral salts used as nutrients, the pH of the liquid, etc.
• the liquid that is generally used is simply water in which the concentration of microalgae by weight can generally range around 2-4%.
• the liquid is circulated by a pump 2, for example a membrane pump, and flows through a heat exchanger 10 located in a cooling tower 8, which will be further described below.
• a pump 2 for example a membrane pump
• the passage of the liquid through said exchanger 10 which by its very nature has a considerable surface area for exchange with the ambient air, usually has the effect of reducing the temperature of the liquid to a certain extent, even if cooling tower 8 is not in operation; in the eve that this temperature is below a reference value (e.g., 25°C, i the case of the alga spirulina) , it is good for the liquid not circulate, for which reason said membrane pump 2 is equipped wi electronic controls 2a, 2c, which start it and keep it in operation only at times when the temperature of the liquid of t device exceeds said reference value.
• a reference value e.g. 25°C, i the case of the alga spirulina
• the temperature of the liquid may also reach elevated values, beyond the threshold of optimum physiological compatibility of the alga under cultivation (in the case of the alga spirulina: 35-37°C) .
• the liquid that is discharged from said membrane pump 2 passes through exchanger 1 onto which spraying device 9 sprays more or less nebulized wate which, by evaporating, removes heat from the circulating liquid
• Said spraying device 9 is also equipped with a pump 9a which starts and remains in operation only when the temperature of th liquid, as sensed by a probe 9b, reaches a first value that is greater than the reference value of said membrane pump 2 (in th case of the alga spirulina, 36°C) .
• the process of evaporation the cooling water may also be accelerated by the action of the ventilation that is produced by an appropriate device 11, which is started and kept in operation as a function of the time duri which the temperature sensed from the circulating liquid exceed a preset second value which, in turn, is greater than said firs value (in the case of the alga spirulina, said second value is 37°C) .
• an appropriate device 11 which is started and kept in operation as a function of the time duri which the temperature sensed from the circulating liquid exceed a preset second value which, in turn, is greater than said firs value (in the case of the alga spirulina, said second value is 37°C) .
• the inventor has made provision for supplying heat to it by causing it to circulate in another appropriate exchanger, which is not shown in the figure but which can readily be imagined and implemented according to the state of the art by a specialist in the field, or more simply by heating the water that is supplied by spraying device 9 in order to cause it to perform both a heating as well as a cooling function.
• the life cycle of the algae in question includes the well known process of chlorophyllic photosynthesis, during the course of which, as is known, there occur chemical reactions which, in simplified terms, involve a decrease in the amount of carbon dioxide and an increase in the amount of oxygen that are contained in the environment in which the algae live.
• This is an environment which, in the present case being a closed circuit 1 with no communication with the ambient air, requires that the necessary amount of carbon dioxide be continuously added when the alkalinity of the liquid increases and, in turn, the relative pH consequently rises above a preset threshold (e.g., 9-10 for the alga spirulina) .
• the gaseous carbon dioxide that is introduced into the circulating liquid comes from a pressurized tank 4, of a known type, and is delivered via an inlet valve 4a that is controlled by an electronic control device as a functiono of the pH that is sensed by the latter control device by means an appropriate probe 6b.
• a filtering tank which will be called a filtering tank, or at other points in the device.
• filtering tank 8 is located a mechanical filter 7 that is able to hold up the algae when the circulating liquid carrying the algae pass through it, and said tank 8 is connected to the circuit with a bypass system, according to known methods and with the aid of known interception means, in order to allow the circulating liquid to pass through it only when it is felt that the amount of algae contained in the latter is such as to allow or require their extraction.
• filter 7 is reinstalled inside filtering tank 8, and the flow of circulating liquid is shifted toward the normal circulation path without filtration.
• the inventor has made provision for placing the components of the device that are more susceptible to damage caused by adverse weather, in practice all of them except for cooling tower 8 and segment 3 that is transparent to the sun's rays, in a box 12 or some other kind of structure that is aerated by appropria means 14, 14a and whose size is made appropriate to the size of the device.

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• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Bioinformatics & Cheminformatics (AREA)
• Zoology (AREA)
• Organic Chemistry (AREA)
• Wood Science & Technology (AREA)
• Biotechnology (AREA)
• Genetics & Genomics (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Biomedical Technology (AREA)
• Biochemistry (AREA)
• Microbiology (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Sustainable Development (AREA)
• Analytical Chemistry (AREA)
• Cell Biology (AREA)
• Medicinal Chemistry (AREA)
• Virology (AREA)
• Clinical Laboratory Science (AREA)
• Botany (AREA)
• Tropical Medicine & Parasitology (AREA)
• Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
• Molecular Biology (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Thermal Sciences (AREA)
• Micro-Organisms Or Cultivation Processes Thereof (AREA)
• Apparatus Associated With Microorganisms And Enzymes (AREA)
• Cultivation Of Seaweed (AREA)

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• 1995
  • 1995-12-07 JP JP8523366A patent/JPH11509402A/ja active Pending
  • 1995-12-07 AU AU38799/95A patent/AU3879995A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1995-12-07 EP EP95938002A patent/EP0807163A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 1995-12-07 WO PCT/IB1995/001100 patent/WO1996023865A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1995-12-07 CN CN 95197519 patent/CN1175279A/zh not_active Withdrawn

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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