JPH0646827A - Culture device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a culture device capable of high-density culture and growth of photosynthetic organisms such as plant cells, tissues, organs or fine algae, and of efficiently producing useful materials from the organisms. CONSTITUTION:The objective culture device is equipped with (A) a hollow revolving shaft axially penetrating through a cylindrical horizontal culture tank 1 and (B) a membrane separator 9 composed of disc-shaped permeation membranes. A filtrated medium permeated through the membranes passes through the revolving shaft, and is circulated via a channel out of the tank 1 to the culture tank 1. Light irradiators 4, 7 are installed on the top and at a lower part of the tank 1, respectively, uniformly irradiate the inside of the tank 1 with rays of light. Below the irradiator 7, an aerating agitator 6 with many fine holes is also installed to feed the culture solution in the tank 1 with a dissolved gas as well as mildly agitate the culture solution. Besides, organisms stuck to the membrane separator 9 and those stuck to the inner wall of the tank 1 are eliminated by a blade 8 and a wiper 10, respectively.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention enables high-density culture of photosynthetic organisms that require light, such as plant cells, tissues and organs, and microalgae, and useful substances from the photosynthetic organisms. The present invention relates to a culture device capable of producing

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for culturing photosynthetic organisms such as microalgae, there are a closed system such as an aeration and stirring tank and an air lift type culture tank, and an open system represented by an open pond system. In recent years, with the development of biotechnology, attention has been focused on the production of useful substances such as fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals using plant cells, tissues and organs, and microalgae. However, in the open system culture by irradiation of sunlight, contamination of various bacteria and contamination of foreign substances occur. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a culture device capable of performing efficient light culture in a closed system free from contamination.

[0003]

Since many of the useful substances produced by the above photosynthetic organisms are inside cells, it is desirable to culture the cells at a higher density in order to increase the yield of the useful substances. In the culture of photosynthetic organisms, as the cell concentration increases, less light reaches the inside of the culture solution, and the light supply becomes insufficient. Therefore, there is a problem that it is difficult not only to increase the size of the culture tank but also to perform high-density culture of photosynthetic organisms.

From the above, in the present situation, in the culture of photosynthetic organisms, a light irradiation type culture apparatus capable of performing culture at a sufficiently high density in a closed system has not yet been developed. Therefore, the present invention is capable of cultivating and growing photosynthetic organisms such as plant cells, tissues and organs, and microalgae at a high density, and also capable of efficiently producing useful substances from the photosynthetic organisms. I will provide a.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention has a horizontal cylindrical culture tank, and a hollow rotary shaft is attached so as to penetrate in the axial direction of the culture tank. One or more disc-shaped permeable membranes are attached to the rotating shaft to form a membrane separation device, and the culture solution taken out from the membrane separating device is taken out of the culture device through the inside of the rotating shaft. A circulation line is formed again into the culture device, and an aeration and stirring device having a large number of fine hole diameters through which gas is blown out is arranged in the lower part of the culture tank. .

In this culture device, a wiper for removing organisms attached to the inner wall of the culture device is fixed to the membrane separation device, and a blade for removing organisms attached to the surface of the membrane separation device is fixed to the culture device. Has been done. In this culture device, light irradiation devices are arranged at the upper and lower parts of the culture tank, respectively.

[0007]

The present invention is a cell-separation-type culturing apparatus, in which aeration and stirring and light irradiation are performed for culturing. Filtration culture by filtering the culture solution with a membrane separation device in the culture tank, holding the photosynthetic organisms in the culture tank, circulating the filtered culture solution, that is, the filtration medium, or supplying a fresh medium. As a result, the photosynthetic organisms can be retained at a high density in the culture tank.

The light irradiating device provided on the upper part of the culture tank can uniformly irradiate the surface of the culture solution with sunlight or artificial light. Further, the other light irradiating device is provided on the lower part of the culture tank, so that the culture object is high in density. It is characterized in that it can effectively irradiate light even in this state. Further, since the mixed gas can be supplied as fine bubbles by aeration stirring having a fine pore diameter, it is expected that the gas utilization efficiency is improved and the mild stirring effect due to the flow of the culture solution is achieved.

[0009]

First Embodiment A first embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. Figure 1
2 is a cross-sectional view showing the entire culture device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the culture device, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA ′ of FIG. In FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, reference numeral 1 denotes a horizontal cylindrical culture tank, which is a main component of the culture apparatus, but a control device, a connection pipe, a sterilization holding mechanism and the like necessary for the culture apparatus are particularly illustrated. Absent. The main part of the culture tank 1 is preferably a transparent material that absorbs light from the outside, as long as it is a material that can withstand steam sterilization,
For example, glass can be used.

A hollow rotary shaft is attached so as to penetrate through the culture tank 1 in the axial direction, and a filtered culture solution circulates in the hollow portion of the rotary shaft and is discharged to the outside of the culture tank 1. There is. One or two or more disc-shaped permeable membranes are attached to the rotary shaft about the rotary shaft, and constitute a membrane separation device 9. The disc-shaped permeable membrane is rotated by the rotation of the rotation shaft of the membrane separation device 9 by the motor 2 connected via the mechanical seal 3. The permeable membrane of the membrane separator 9 has an average pore diameter of 0.1 to 10 μm, and is made of stainless steel, ceramics, polypropylene, Teflon (registered trademark), or the like. The kind of the permeable membrane and the number of rotations of the permeable membrane can be arbitrarily selected depending on the subject to be cultured.

A culture medium is taken out from the membrane separation device 9 through the hollow rotating shaft to the outside of the culture tank 1, and a pipe is formed to circulate the culture solution again into the culture tank 1. An upper light irradiation device 4 capable of irradiating artificial light or sunlight is arranged above the culture tank 1. This upper light irradiation device 4 is
The surface of the culture liquid in the culture tank 1 can be uniformly irradiated with sunlight or artificial light such as a halogen lamp or a xenon lamp, and has a light collecting function and a light scattering function. For example,
A Fresnel lens is attached to the outer wall surface of the upper part of the transparent culture tank 1, and sunlight or the artificial light is irradiated from directly above the culture tank 1 into the culture tank 1. Further, a lower irradiation device 7 is arranged in the lower part of the culture tank 1, and it is possible to irradiate sunlight or artificial light with an optical fiber, or directly irradiate with a fluorescent lamp, etc. Can be irradiated.

At the lower part of the culture tank 1, an aeration and stirring device 6 for supplying a necessary gas to the culture solution is arranged. This aeration and agitation device 6 is capable of generating fine bubbles after sterilizing an arbitrary mixed gas suitable for culturing photosynthetic organisms with a sterilization filter 13, and generating fine bubbles from the pores of the aeration and agitation device 6. It is directly supplied to the culture solution and dissolved. At this time, the supply of air bubbles causes the culture solution to flow, and the inside of the culture tank 1 is stirred uniformly and mildly. As the aeration and stirring device 6, for example, a ceramic, a porous material such as sintered stainless steel, or a tube made of a heat-resistant resin such as Teflon and processed with a large number of minute pores can be used.

The culture liquid in the culture tank 1 is effectively filtered by pressurizing or depressurizing operation. Since the single body to be cultured attached to the membrane can be scraped off by the blade 8 which is fixed to the culture tank and has its blade edge in contact with the permeable membrane, the membrane separation device 9 is not clogged. Further, the wiper 10 fixed to the membrane separation device 9 also has a self-cleaning function of scraping off the culture object adhered to the wall surface in the culture tank 1.

In the method for culturing a photosynthetic organism using the above-described culturing apparatus, first, a liquid medium is put into the culture tank 1, the bacteria are sterilized, and the photosynthetic organism is inoculated from the inoculation port 5. Next, while aeration of fine air bubbles by the aeration and agitation device 6, light is irradiated by the upper light irradiation device 4 and the lower light irradiation device 7 to culture, and the culture solution is continuously filtered by the membrane separation device 9. . At this time, the filtered medium circulated by the circulation circuit or freshly prepared fresh medium is supplied to the medium supply port 11
The photosynthetic organisms can be cultivated at high density in the culture solution by supplying the photosynthetic organisms from the culture medium to the culture tank 1. A weak or dead culture medium is withdrawn from the culture medium withdrawal port 12 and discharged to supply a fresh medium, or a high-density culture medium of a desired photosynthetic organism is collected to supply a fresh medium to continuously culture the medium. It can be carried out.

As described above, the culturing apparatus according to the present invention emits light to both cell growth and production of useful substances like plant green cultured cells, moss cultured cells, and green algae such as Chlorella. Not only for the photosynthetic organisms that need it, but it is also possible to apply the present culture device to the culture of plant cells that do not require light or the suspension culture of animal cells without light irradiation. .

[0016]

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY As described above, according to the present invention, a membrane separation apparatus separates a photo-synthetic organism-free filtered medium from a culture solution and circulates the medium so that the medium can be cultivated while recycling or exchanging the medium. It can be cultivated at high density without damage. Moreover, since the culture can be cultured under a sufficient light supply even when the culture is in a high density state, it is possible to easily perform high-density culture even for the culture that requires light for growth and production of useful substances. The material can be produced in high yield.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the entire culture device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view of the culture device of the present invention seen from above.

3 is a sectional view taken along the line AA ′ in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Culture Tank 2 Motor 3 Mechanical Seal 4 Upper Light Irradiation Device 5 Inoculation Port 6 Aeration Stirrer 7 Lower Irradiation Device 8 Blade 9 Membrane Separation Device 10 Wiper 11 Medium Supply Port 12 Extraction Port 13 Sterilization Filter

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. (1) A cylindrical horizontal culture tank is provided, (2) A hollow rotary shaft is attached so as to penetrate in the axial direction of the culture tank, and (3) One or two is provided on the rotary shaft. A membrane separation device is constructed by attaching more than one disc-shaped permeable membrane. (4) The culture solution taken out from the membrane separation device is taken out of the culture device through the inside of the rotary shaft and is again in the culture device. (5) An agitating device having an aeration and stirring device having a large number of fine hole diameters through which gas is blown out is arranged in the lower part of the culture tank. 2. A wiper for removing organisms attached to the inner wall of the culture device is fixed to the membrane separation device, and a blade for removing organisms attached to the surface of the membrane separation device is attached to the culture device. The culture device according to claim 1, which is fixed. 3. The cultivating apparatus according to claim 2, wherein light irradiating devices are respectively arranged on an upper part and a lower part of the culturing tank.