JP6586724B2 - Culture system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a culture system for culturing algae.

  In recent years, algae (especially microalgae) that can produce biofuels (hydrocarbons and biodiesel) and physiologically active substances such as astaxanthin have attracted attention. It is being studied to use it as energy to replace it, or to use it for medicines, cosmetics, foods, and the like.

  As means for taking out algae from a culture tank for culturing algae, means for collecting algae together with the culture liquid by collecting the whole amount of the liquid in the culture tank by a pump is disclosed (for example, Patent Document 1, Non-Patent Document). 1).

JP-A-6-133757

James W. Richardson, et al. A financial assessment of two alternative cultivation systems and their contributions to algae biofuel economic viability, Algal Research 4 (2014) 96-104

  However, since the concentration of algae with respect to the culture solution is extremely low in the culture tank, the conventional technique increases the cost required to drive the pump with respect to the amount of algae collected.

  Then, in view of such a subject, this invention aims at providing the culture system which can collect | recover algae with a simple structure at low cost.

In order to solve the above problems, the culture system of the present invention has a culture tank for culturing algae containing a floating algae and a culture solution, and a scraping surface intersecting the liquid level of the culture tank, A scraping unit that moves along the liquid level, scrapes the upper layer containing algae of the liquid contained in the culture tank with the scraping surface, and overflows the overflow part of the culture tank, and the scraping part A moving means that moves the liquid, a staying part that retains the liquid overflowed from the overflow part, a pump that sucks algae aggregated by being retained in the staying part from the liquid level of the staying part, And the area of the liquid level of the staying portion is less than the area of the liquid level of the culture tank.

  Further, the scraping portion may have a plurality of holes smaller than the average particle size of algae.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to collect algae at a low cost with a simple configuration.

It is a figure for demonstrating a culture system. It is a figure for demonstrating the flow of the liquid from a culture tank to a retention part by the movement of a scraping part.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The dimensions, materials, and other specific numerical values shown in the embodiments are merely examples for facilitating the understanding of the invention, and do not limit the present invention unless otherwise specified. In the present specification and drawings, elements having substantially the same function and configuration are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted, and elements not directly related to the present invention are not illustrated. To do.

(Culture system 100)
FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a culture system 100 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the algae and the culture solution are accommodated in the culture tank 110 of the culture system 100, and the algae are cultured in the culture tank 110. In the present embodiment, the algae have floating properties, and a layer of algae is formed on the upper part of the culture solution (near the liquid surface) in the culture tank 110. The thickness of the algal layer in the culture tank 110 is, for example, about 2 mm. Here, the algae may be, for example, Botriococcus brownies belonging to the genus Botryococcus, Pseudochoristyris epsisoidosalis, Monalananthus Salina), Chlorella prototecoides, Outirococcus sp. Senedesmus oblicus, Nannochloris sp. Dunaliella bardawiil (D. Salina), Navicula periculosa, Radiosphaera nulevensis, Radidarfa urita bulhad ), Nitzschia palea, Ochromonas dannica, Chlorella pyrenoidosa, Peridinium cinctum or locinum s oleabundans), O Kisutisu polymorpha (Oocystis polymorpha), chrysolite chromium Rina (Chrysochromulina) spp. Senedesmus acutus, Scenedesmus spp. , Chlorella minutisima, Primnesin parvum, Navicula periculosa, Senedesmus stimolasse smoles smoles Chlorella spp. One or more algae selected from the group consisting of Euglena gracilis, and Porphyridium cruentum.

  The culture tank 110 is provided with a scraping unit 130. The scraping portion 130 has a plate shape, and extends in a horizontal direction (X-axis direction in FIG. 1) from the main body 132 extending from the wall 110b to the wall 110c and the lower end of the main body 132. And an extending portion 134. In the present embodiment, the angle formed by the main body portion 132 and the extending portion 134 is about 90 °. The scraping portion 130 is arranged so that the scraping surface 132a of the main body portion 132 intersects the liquid surface of the culture tank 110 (here, intersects vertically). That is, the scraping portion 130 is arranged in the culture tank 110 so that the angle formed by the scraping surface 132a and the liquid surface is 90 °. Further, an elastic member such as rubber is disposed at a portion of the scraping portion 130 that comes into contact with the wall portions 110b and 110c constituting the culture tank 110.

  The scraping unit 130 is moved along the liquid surface of the culture tank 110 by a moving means (not shown). In the present embodiment, the moving means moves the scraping portion 130 from one end portion (wall portion 110a) of the culture tank 110 toward the other end portion (wall portion 110d), or from the other end portion toward one end portion. The scraping unit 130 is moved.

  In addition, a retention portion 120 is provided adjacent to the other end portion (wall portion 110d) of the culture tank 110. The area of the liquid level of the retention part 120 is less than the area of the liquid level of the culture tank 110 (for example, about 1/10). In other words, the average value of the horizontal cross-sectional area of the retention portion 120 (XY cross-sectional area in FIG. 1) is less than the average value of the horizontal cross-sectional area of the culture tank 110. In the present embodiment, the staying part 120 is a tank having a smaller liquid surface area than the culture tank 110 and a smaller volume than the culture tank 110.

  The liquid scraped by the scraping unit 130 is introduced into the staying unit 120. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the flow of the liquid from the culture tank 110 to the staying unit 120 due to the movement of the scraping unit 130. In FIG. 2, for easy understanding, the algae are indicated by white circles, and the algae are shown enlarged with respect to the culture system 100.

  In the initial position, the scraping portion 130 is disposed on one end (wall portion 110a) side of the culture tank 110 as shown in FIG. The scraping unit 130 is arranged in the culture tank 110 so that the algae are located above the extending part 134. The scraping unit 130 is maintained at the initial position until the algae are sufficiently cultured in the culture tank 110.

  When the algae are sufficiently cultured in the culture tank 110 and the collection of the algae is started, as shown in FIG. 2B, the moving means is a scraping part from the wall part 110a side of the culture tank 110 toward the wall part 110d. 130 is moved. Then, the scraping unit 130 scrapes the upper layer (algae layer) of the culture solution with the scraping surface 132a, and the algae are scraped ahead of the scraping surface 132a in the moving direction of the scraping unit 130. As a result, the culture solution moves rearward in the movement direction through the lower part of the extension part 134 (indicated by an arrow in FIG. 2B). In addition, as above-mentioned, since algae has floating property in this embodiment, there is no possibility that it may leak to the back of a moving direction through the downward direction of the extension part 134. FIG.

  Further, when the scraping portion 130 is moved by the moving means, the water level Wb in front of the scraping surface 132a in the moving direction of the scraping portion 130 becomes higher than the water level Wa behind the scraping portion 130. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2C, the upper layer (algae layer) scraped by the scraping surface 132a of the scraping section 130 is overflowed from the overflow section 110e of the culture tank 110 and stays there. It will be introduced into the section 120.

  As described above, since the elastic member such as rubber is disposed at the portion of the scraping portion 130 that contacts the wall portions 110b and 110c, the scraping portion 130 and the wall portions 110b and 110c are arranged. It can be moved while being in close contact. Thereby, leakage of algae from the front to the rear in the moving direction of the scraping unit 130 can be reduced, and the scraping unit 130 can scrape algae efficiently.

  In this way, a liquid overflowed from the overflow part 110e of the culture tank 110 (an upper layer of the liquid, that is, a liquid in which algae is concentrated from the culture tank 110) is introduced into the retention part 120. The liquid in which the algae is concentrated is retained and stored.

  Referring back to FIG. 1, the take-out unit 140 takes out algae aggregated by being retained in the retention unit 120 from above the retention unit 120. In the present embodiment, the extraction unit 140 is configured by a pump, and sucks the culture solution in which algae are collected from the liquid level of the retention unit 120 and sends it to the subsequent dehydration facility.

  As described above, the retention portion 120 is a tank having an average horizontal cross-sectional area that is less than the average horizontal cross-sectional area of the culture tank 110. Therefore, in the retention part 120, the thickness of the algal layer can be increased as compared with the culture tank 110 (for example, 2 cm or more). Thereby, the extraction part 140 can suck | inhale only the upper layer of the liquid containing algae, and compared with the conventional method which collect | recovers the whole quantity of the liquid of the culture tank 110, the cost required for the drive of the extraction part 140 is reduced significantly. It becomes possible to do.

  Moreover, since the retention part 120 of this embodiment has a small volume compared with the culture tank 110, even if the extraction part 140 collect | recovers all the liquids stored in the retention part 120 and collect | recovers algae, culture | cultivation Compared with the conventional method of collecting the entire amount of the liquid in the tank 110, it is possible to reduce the cost required for driving the extraction unit 140.

  Then, when the movement of the algae from the culture tank 110 to the staying part 120 is completed, the scraping part 130 is returned to the initial position by the moving means. In addition, the algae sent to the dehydration processing facility by the extraction unit 140 is dehydrated in the dehydration processing facility and further sent to the subsequent processing facility. In addition, the culture solution collected in the dehydration facility is returned to the culture tank 110.

  As described above, according to the culture system 100 according to the present embodiment, the retention unit 120 is provided, and the algae can be collected at a low cost with a simple configuration in which the liquid in which the algae is concentrated is only retained and stored. It becomes possible to do.

  As mentioned above, although preferred embodiment of this invention was described referring an accompanying drawing, it cannot be overemphasized that this invention is not limited to this embodiment. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made within the scope of the claims, and these are naturally within the technical scope of the present invention. Is done.

  For example, in the above embodiment, the configuration in which the scraping portion 130 includes the extending portion 134 has been described as an example. However, the extending part 134 is not an essential configuration.

  Further, the scraping portion 130 may have a plurality of holes smaller than the average particle diameter of algae (for example, holes less than 10 μm). Thereby, when the upper layer of the liquid is scraped by the scraping unit 130, the concentration rate of the algae can be improved, and the concentration of the algae in the liquid that overflows the staying unit 120 can be improved.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, the structure which provided elastic members, such as rubber | gum, in the part which contacts the wall parts 110b and 110c which comprise the culture tank 110 in the scraping part 130 was mentioned as an example, and was demonstrated. However, the elastic member is not an essential configuration.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, the pump was mentioned as the example as the extraction part 140, and was demonstrated. However, a hole may be provided in the bottom surface of the retention part 120, and algae may be taken out through the hole. In this case, a culture medium flowing through the connection pipe connected to the hole or a sensor for detecting algae is provided, and the connection destination of the connection pipe is set as the culture tank 110 while the culture liquid flows from the connection pipe. The connection destination may be switched to the subsequent dehydration equipment when the sensor detects that the liquid flowing from the connection pipe has changed to algae. In addition, the sensor can utilize the sensor which detects the color (for example, green) of algae, for example.

  Further, either one or both of the culture tank 110 and the staying part 120 may be provided with a pressurized floating means (means for generating bubbles in the liquid and floating and separating algae).

  The present invention can be used in a culture system for culturing algae.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Culture system 110 Culture tank 110e Overflow part 120 Stay part 130 Scraping part 132a Scraping surface 140 Extraction part

Claims (2)

A culture tank for containing the floating algae and the culture solution and culturing the algae;
It has a scraping surface intersecting with the liquid level of the culture tank, and is moved along the liquid level so that the upper layer containing the algae of the liquid stored in the culture tank is scraped with the scraping surface. A scraping section that overflows from the overflow section of the culture tank;
Moving means for moving the scraping part;
A retention part for retaining and storing the liquid overflowed from the overflow part;
A pump for sucking the algae aggregated by being retained in the retention part from the liquid level of the retention part;
With
The culture system characterized in that an area of the liquid level of the staying portion is less than an area of the liquid level of the culture tank.   The culture system according to claim 1, wherein the scraping portion has a plurality of holes smaller than an average particle diameter of the algae.

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