Novel bioprocessing technologies for the cultivation of microalgae.

Microalgae are single cell photosynthetic organisms which have the potential to be game changers in industrial biotechnology. In spite of their many reported benefits, their technological advancement and industrial adoption rate has fallen behind expectation. As reported by numerous influential publications in the past decade, this can be traced to a lack of communication between engineering and science, leading to the development of technology (photobioreactors) which systematically underestimate algal growth parameters at scale; suggesting that that there is a need for considerable redesign of the photobioreactor technology. Therefore, in this work the development of a novel photobioreactor based on continuous flow technologies is introduced. Using the work carried out by the Makatsoris Group in the field of oscillatory baffled flow reactors as a foundation, the development of an enabling platform in the shape of a continuous oscillatory baffled flow photobioreactor ensued. This platform aimed to facilitate scalability, increase cost effectiveness and intensify the cultivation of microalgae; carried out via the implementation continuous plug flow mixing and novel light utilisation techniques. This resulted in a technology which in combination with a novel cost- effective nutrient mix tailored to C.Vulgaris, the model strain, achieved three key results. First accelerated the growth rate of microalgae. Second, it reduced the cost of media from 0.04 £/l to 0.0046 £/l. Third it systematically produced high biomass yields in the range of 1.65 and 2.8 g/l in 8-10 days, at a price per unit biomass of approximately 2.1£/kg; for both laboratory (<100ml) and pilot scale (>10L). The success of this work led to the creation of a spinout commercial entity called Centillion Technology Ltd, which operates the technology at ramped up volumes, at the Cranfield University pilot plant.