KR102176006B1 - Device for marine microalgae cultivation with baffle - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention is a culture vessel with an open top and surrounded by a flexible barrier for partitioning the microalgae culture solution containing the photosynthetic microorganisms to be cultured and environmental water; At least one inner partition wall coupled to the bottom surface of the culture vessel and protruding upward and having an upper portion exposed above the water surface by a buoyant material; And it provides a marine microalgae culture apparatus comprising a flotation means for fixing the culture vessel and at the same time floating above the water surface.

Description

Device for marine microalgae cultivation with baffle}

The present invention relates to a marine microalgae incubator, and more particularly, to a marine microalgae incubator having an inner partition wall for mass cultivation of microalgae.

The generation of carbon dioxide due to the large use of fossil fuels is the cause of global warming, and it is necessary to develop biofuels as sustainable eco-friendly fuels in preparation for the era when fossil fuels are depleted. Among biofuels, biodiesel is widely used as a raw material for diesel engines, which are internal combustion engines, and is a fuel that is in the spotlight as an eco-friendly fuel. However, although fatty acid glycerol ester, fatty acid, or lipids derived from plants and animals are used as raw materials for manufacturing, there is a risk that mass production of biodiesel may cause food depletion because most of the lipids are food resources. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a lipid production resource for biodiesel production without causing food problems. Among the lipid production resources, microalgae are expected to be a production source of biodiesel in the future because they have excellent ability to produce organic matter, especially lipids through photosynthesis using sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water, and many studies are being conducted. In particular, in order to improve the productivity of biomass using microalgae, it is important to promote mixing of the culture solution by waves inside the pond-type microalgae incubator installed on the water surface and to prevent the culture solution from being pulled by the algae. In this regard, Korean Patent Application Publication No. 2016-0019856 discloses a floating incubator for mass cultivation in which a rope support is inclined under an incubator.

However, in the case of the prior art, the rope support installed in the incubator increases the length of the rope as the scale of the incubator increases, so that the center of the rope sinks by its own load, reducing the ability to maintain a constant depth of the incubator. have.

The present invention is to solve a number of problems including the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a pond-type marine microalgae incubator having an internal partition wall that promotes mixing efficiency of a culture medium by increasing the flow generation inside the incubator. do. However, these problems are exemplary, and the scope of the present invention is not limited thereby.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the upper part is opened and the culture vessel is surrounded by a flexible barrier for partitioning the microalgal culture medium and the environmental water containing the photosynthetic microorganism to be cultured; At least one inner partition wall coupled to the bottom surface of the culture vessel and protruding upward and having an upper portion exposed above the water surface by a buoyant material; And, there is provided a marine microalgae culture apparatus comprising a flotation means for fixing the culture vessel and at the same time floating above the water surface.

As described above, according to an embodiment of the present invention, in a pond-type marine microalgae incubator having an inner partition wall, the microalgal biomass productivity is improved as the inner partition wall increases the flow inside the incubator to promote mixing of the culture medium. The effect can be implemented. Of course, the scope of the present invention is not limited by these effects.

1 is a schematic view (a) and a photograph (b) schematically showing the form of a pond-type marine microalgae incubator having an inner partition wall of the present invention.
2 is a basic incubator without any device added to the incubator used in the experiment for comparing microalgal biomass productivity (a), an incubator with a rope support (b), an incubator with one inner partition wall (c ) And the incubator (d) with two internal partition walls.
Figure 3 is a graph analyzing the biomass productivity of the pond-type marine microalgae incubator having an inner partition wall of the present invention.
4 is an incubator (a) having a tether support used in an experiment for comparing the productivity of microalgae biomass by adding an internal partition wall, an incubator (b) having two buoyancy material supports, and two internal partition walls. This is a picture showing the shape of the incubator (c).
Figure 5 is a graph analyzing the biomass productivity of the pond-type marine microalgae incubator having an inner partition wall of the present invention.
Figure 6 is a graph analyzing the relative culture medium mixing efficiency of the pond-type marine microalgae incubator having an inner partition wall of the present invention.
7 is a graph showing the analysis of the photic zone fraction of the pond-type marine microalgae incubator having an inner partition wall according to the present invention.

Definition of Terms:

The term "microalgae" as used in this document is phytoplankton living in the sea, and plankton, such as coclodinium, which often causes red tide, is also a microalgae. The microalgae species of interest in marine bioenergy research are especially lipid-rich microalgae species. The size is about 10μm (micron, 1 millionth of 1m), about 1/10th of the thickness of a hair.

The term "selective permeable mesh" used in this document is composed of a mesh sheet or a perforated sheet, and not only certain molecules are selectively permeated by the osmosis phenomenon, but polymers such as water, gas and nutrients Most of the materials, including, means a material that allows free passage of substances, but limits the free diffusion of cells such as photosynthetic microorganisms, and some of the cells may pass through the barrier, but the cell concentration is in an equilibrium state through the barrier. Does not.

The term "inner baffle" used in this document refers to a plate in the form of a partition installed vertically to maintain the shape of the microalgae incubator and to generate internal flow. When waves pass through the incubator, the inner bulkhead is front and rear. Alternatively, since the flow is generated as it moves in the vertical direction, it is possible to further improve the culture medium mixing efficiency by generating more flow than an incubator equipped with a buoyancy material support that only moves up and down or a rope support that does not move by itself.

Detailed description of the invention:

According to an aspect of the present invention, the upper part is opened and the culture vessel is surrounded by a flexible barrier for partitioning the microalgal culture medium and the environmental water containing the photosynthetic microorganism to be cultured; At least one inner partition wall coupled to the bottom surface of the culture vessel and protruding upward and having an upper portion exposed above the water surface by a buoyant material; And, there is provided a marine microalgae culture apparatus comprising a flotation means for fixing the culture vessel and at the same time floating above the water surface.

In the marine microalgae cultivation apparatus, the inner partition wall may have a height of 5 to 30 cm from the bottom of the culture vessel, and the inner partition wall may be entirely or partially composed of an impermeable material, and the impermeable material is Teflon. (teflon, polytetrafluoroethylene), polyolefine, polyamides, polyacrylate, silicone, poly methly methacrylate, polystyrene, polypropylene , Ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, polyethylene-male anhydride copolymer, polyamide, poly(vinyl chloride), poly(vinyl fluoride), poly(vinyl imidazole)), chlorosulfo Chlorosulphonate polyolefin, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), nylon, low density polyethylene (LDPE), high density polyethylene (HDPE), acrylic, polyether ketone (polyetheretherketone), polyimide (polyimide), polycarbonate (polycarbonate), polyurethane (polyurethane) or polyethylene oxide (poly (ethylene oxide)) may be.

In the marine microalgae culture apparatus, the inner partition wall may not be connected to the side wall of the culture vessel, and the flexible barrier may be an impermeable membrane, a semi-permeable membrane, a perforated sheet, or a mesh sheet.

In the marine microalgae culture apparatus, the buoyancy material may be wood, plastic, styrofoam, or air bags.

In order to improve the productivity of microalgae, it is important to prevent the culture medium from being pulled by the algae inside the incubator and to increase the mixing efficiency of the culture by waves. Accordingly, the present inventors have developed an incubator that promotes the generation of flow by installing a rope support under the incubator (Korean Patent Publication No. 2017-0098011). However, the rope support increases the length of the rope as the size of the incubator increases. There is a problem that the center of the incubator is subsided by the load and the ability to maintain a constant depth of the incubator decreases, and the devices that maintain the shape by installing a frame outside the incubator are the inner walls of the culture space and the rope support or shape maintenance. There was a disadvantage in that the inner wall of the incubator was damaged by friction between the dragon frames. In addition, in order to overcome the above shortcomings, a method of attaching a buoyancy material directly to the incubator or inserting it into the lower part of the incubator has been proposed, but there is a problem in that it is difficult to control the depth of the microalgae culture solution in the corresponding part.

As a result of diligently making efforts to solve this problem, the present inventors developed a pond-type marine microalgae cultivator having an internal baffle. By adjusting the height of the inner partition wall, the minimum depth of the incubator can be limited.When the waves pass through the incubator, the incubator with a buoyancy material support that only moves up and down or a rope support that does not move by itself can As it moves in the direction, it is possible to increase the productivity of microalgal biomass by generating more flow to further promote the culture medium mixing efficiency (FIG. 1). In addition, the culture medium is evenly distributed in the incubator according to the installation of the internal partition wall, so that when the wave vibrates the incubator, the force applied to the incubator is dispersed, thereby improving the durability of the incubator by preventing the culture medium from being pulled. This works in the same principle as the effect of improving stability by installing a bulkhead in the fuel tank of a large ship or vehicle to prevent fuel from being pulled to one side even during vibration or shaking.

Hereinafter, various exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The embodiments of the present invention are provided to more completely describe the present invention to those of ordinary skill in the art, and the following examples may be modified in various other forms, and the scope of the present invention is as follows. It is not limited to the examples. Rather, these embodiments are provided to make the present disclosure more faithful and complete, and to completely convey the spirit of the present invention to those skilled in the art. In addition, in the drawings, the thickness or size of each layer is exaggerated for convenience and clarity of description.

Throughout the specification, when referring to one component such as a film, region or substrate positioned "on", "connected", "stacked" or "coupled" another component, the one component It can be interpreted that an element may be directly in contact with another element “on”, “connected”, “stacked” or “coupled”, or that there may be other elements interposed therebetween. On the other hand, when it is mentioned that one component is positioned "directly on", "directly connected", or "directly coupled" of another component, it is interpreted that there are no other components intervening therebetween. do. Uniform symbols refer to uniform elements. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the corresponding listed items.

In the present specification, terms such as first and second are used to describe various members, parts, regions, layers and/or parts, but these members, parts, regions, layers and/or parts are limited by these terms. It is self-evident. These terms are only used to distinguish one member, component, region, layer or portion from another region, layer or portion. Accordingly, a first member, part, region, layer or part to be described below may refer to a second member, part, region, layer or part without departing from the teachings of the present invention.

Also, relative terms such as “top” or “above” and “bottom” or “below” may be used herein to describe the relationship of certain elements to other elements as illustrated in the figures. Relative terms may be understood to be intended to include other orientations of the device in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if an element is turned over in the figures, elements depicted as being on the top side of other elements will have orientation on the bottom side of the other elements. Therefore, the term “top” as an example may include both “bottom” and “top” directions depending on the particular orientation of the drawing. If the device is oriented in a different direction (rotated 90 degrees with respect to the other direction), the relative descriptions used in this specification can be interpreted accordingly.

The terms used in this specification are used to describe specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the present invention. As used herein, the singular form may include the plural form unless the context clearly indicates another case. Further, as used herein, "comprise" and/or "comprising" specifies the presence of the mentioned shapes, numbers, steps, actions, members, elements and/or groups thereof. And does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other shapes, numbers, actions, members, elements and/or groups.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings schematically showing ideal embodiments of the present invention. In the drawings, for example, depending on manufacturing techniques and/or tolerances, variations of the illustrated shape can be expected. Accordingly, the embodiments of the inventive concept should not be construed as being limited to the specific shape of the region shown in the present specification, but should include, for example, a change in shape caused by manufacturing.

1 is a schematic view schematically showing the form of a pond-type marine microalgae incubator 100 having an inner partition wall according to the present invention (b). As shown, the inside of the pond-type marine microalgae incubator 100 having an inner partition wall with an open top has a rectangular partition shape having a length of about 150 cm and a thickness of about 6 to 7 cm made of an impermeable material partially or in front. The internal partition wall 150 is configured. At this time, since the inner partition wall 150 is vertically connected from the bottom of the culture vessel 120 and is made of a buoyant material on the upper portion of the inner partition wall 150, the inner partition wall 150 moves forward or backward when a wave passes inside the incubator. By generating flow as it moves, it exhibits a higher culture medium mixing efficiency compared to an incubator equipped with a conventional buoyant support or a tether support. In order to obtain the optimum culture efficiency using the marine microalgae incubator equipped with an inner partition wall of the present invention, the depth of the water surface of the culture vessel is at most 30 cm. It is preferred to have a height of 5 to 30 cm from the bottom of the container.

FIG. 1 shows an incubator having two internal partition walls 150 inside the incubator to easily explain the features of the present invention, but this can be installed by adding or subtracting it according to the purpose of the researcher and the environment. Referring to Figure 1b, it is possible to clearly understand the shape of the pond-type marine microalgae incubator 100 having an inner partition wall of the present invention.

Experimental Example 1: Biomass productivity 1

The present inventors manufactured a marine microalgal incubator having an internal partition wall that increases flow generation to improve the productivity of microalgal biomass, and compared the culture medium mixing efficiency with the incubator provided with a support.

Specifically, the pond-type marine microalgae incubator was made of square-shaped PVC tarpaulin with a plane area of 16 m ² (4 m X 4 m), and the strain was Tetraselmis sp. KCTC12429BP species was used, and a medium in which nitrate and phosphate were added to seawater was used. In addition, a basic incubator (a) without any device added to the incubator, an incubator with a rope support (b), an incubator with one inner partition (c), and an incubator with two internal partitions (d). After sorting and installing them on the coast of Yeongheung-do, Incheon, microalgal cells were cultured (Fig. 2).

As a result, the productivity of microalgal biomass was 6.2 g/m ² /d for the basic type, 10.2 g/m ² /d for the rope support, 12.1 g/m ² /d with one inner bulkhead, and 13.6 with two inner bulkheads. It was found that productivity was improved to 19% (1 piece) and 33% (2 pieces), respectively, when the inner partition walls were provided compared to the incubator equipped with a rope support at g/m ² /d (FIG. 3).

Experimental Example 2: Biomass productivity 2

The present inventors performed an additional biomass productivity experiment to test whether the productivity improvement effect of the marine microalgae incubator having an inner partition wall of the present invention is due to the buoyancy material with an inner partition wall or an additional effect according to the structure of the inner partition wall. I did.

Specifically, an incubator (a) having a tether support in a culture vessel composed of the same size and material as in Experimental Example 1, an incubator (b) having two buoyancy material supports, and an incubator (c) having two internal partition walls. The medium was classified as Tetraselmis sp. After inoculation of the KCTC12429BP strain, microalgal cells were cultured on the coast of Yeongheung-do, Incheon. In addition, in order to compare the culture solution mixing efficiency, a certain amount of nitrate was added to the culture solution, and the time taken to dissolve and diffuse was measured (FIG. 4).

As a result, it was found that the productivity of microalgal biomass increased by 20% in the incubator (b) equipped with two buoyancy material supports and 38% in the incubator with two internal partition walls compared to the incubator (a) equipped with a tether support. (Fig. 5). In addition, as a result of measuring the culture solution mixing efficiency, it was confirmed that the mixing efficiency was improved by 17% (buoyancy material support) and 139% (inner partition wall) compared to the incubator (a) equipped with a rope support (FIG. 6).

Experimental Example 3: photic zone fraction analysis

The present inventors measured the depth of each portion in a state where each incubator was filled with a culture medium having a concentration of 4 kL microalgal cells of 0.1 g/L in order to quantitatively analyze the effect of mitigating the concentration of the culture medium. Based on this, the area per depth of the culture medium was calculated, and the total amount of light energy supplied to the inside of the culture medium was calculated by multiplying the light intensity per depth derived using the beer-lambert formula. The obtained values were compared with the form of the incubator with the form of a rectangular parallelepiped with the highest total amount of light energy, and a method for evaluating the form of the incubator was devised and compared with the photic zone fraction.

As a result, compared to the rope support (82%) and the buoyancy material support (91%), the photic zone fraction value of the incubator (95%) with the inner partition wall was the highest. It was confirmed that was significantly improved (FIG. 7).

Through the above experimental results, the improvement of biomass productivity of the incubator of the present invention is not an effect that occurs simply as the internal partition wall structure provides buoyancy to maintain the shape of the incubator, but provides more flow inside the culture vessel than the conventional rope or buoyancy material support. Thus, it was confirmed that the efficiency of mixing the culture solution was remarkably improved, and structural stability was improved by mitigating the culture solution drifting phenomenon, and the biomass productivity was significantly improved by increasing the total amount of light energy supplied to the incubator. In particular, it was confirmed that the inner partition wall provided with a selective permeable membrane to improve the productivity of microalgae biomass in the culture in which nutrients contained in the external environmental water diffuse into the incubator.

In conclusion, the pond-type marine microalgae incubator having an inner partition wall of the present invention can limit the minimum depth of the incubator by adjusting the height of the inner partition wall, unlike the conventional incubator to which a rope support or a buoyancy material support is added, and the inner partition wall is It can be utilized for mass cultivation of microalgae that can improve biomass productivity by further increasing the mixing efficiency of the culture medium by causing the flow more smoothly while moving back and forth or left and right.

The present invention has been described with reference to the above-described Examples and Experimental Examples, but these are only exemplary, and those of ordinary skill in the art understand that various modifications and equivalent other Examples and Experimental Examples are possible therefrom. I will understand. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention should be determined by the technical spirit of the appended claims.

Claims (7)

A culture vessel having an open top and surrounded by a flexible barrier partitioning the microalgae culture solution containing the photosynthetic microorganisms to be cultured and the environmental water;
Combined with the bottom surface of the culture vessel and protrudes upward, the upper portion is exposed to the water surface by a buoyant material, is not connected to the side wall of the culture vessel, and is entirely composed of an impermeable material. A plurality of inner partition walls generating flow as they move in the vertical direction; And
A marine microalgae culture apparatus comprising a flotation means for fixing the culture vessel and floating above the water surface. The method of claim 1,
The inner partition wall has a height of 5 to 30 cm from the bottom of the culture vessel, marine microalgae culture apparatus. delete The method of claim 1,
The impermeable material is Teflon (polytetrafluoroethylene), polyolefine, polyamides, polyacrylate, silicone, poly methly methacrylate, polystyrene , Polypropylene, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, polyethylene-male anhydride copolymer, polyamide, poly(vinyl chloride), poly(vinyl fluoride), polyvinyl imidazole (poly(vinyl) imidazole)), chlorosulphonate polyolefin, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), nylon, low density polyethylene (LDPE), high density polyethylene (HDPE), acrylic ( acryl), polyetheretherketone, polyimide, polycarbonate, polyurethane (polyurethane) or polyethylene oxide (poly(ethylene oxide)), marine microalgae culture apparatus. delete The method of claim 1,
The flexible barrier is an impermeable membrane, a semi-permeable membrane, a perforated sheet, or a mesh sheet, marine microalgae culture apparatus. The method of claim 1,
The buoyancy material is wood, plastic, styrofoam or air bag, marine microalgae culture apparatus.

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