***DECEMBER ISSUE*** International Journal on Bioinformatics & Biosciences (IJBB)

Fabrication of a Simple Bubble Column CO₂ Capture Unit Utilizing Microalgae

Farshid Zabihian¹, Jon Ball², Joel Kouakou², Brendon Rankou² and Jerod Taylor², 

California State University, Sacramento, USA and ²West Virginia University Institute of Technology, USA

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on the fabrication of a vertical column CO2 bioreactor and the experimentation of microalgae. On the manufacturing aspect of the project, the base design was modelled on Solidworks and assigned a material. The model was then loaded onto a finite element analysis (FEA) software to determine various engineering stresses and strains to confirm the specimen’s strength. Once the simulation had completed, the model was ready for 3-D printing. The species of microalgae to be used in this study was Chlorella Vulgaris. The medium solution was prepared by mixing many types of salts suitable for this type of algae. Experimental trials of algae growth were conducted mainly to see whether the algae would indeed grow more rapidly using the developed medium. After failure in early trials, some experiments were conducted to determine which concentration of stock solution would be the most ideal for the algae to grow in. These early experiments proved the major impacts of the concentration of the medium on the rate of growth of the algae. The knowledge gained in these experiments will be instrumental during the next stages of this project. 

KEYWORDS

Microalgae, CO2 Capture, Vertical Column Bioreactor, Fabrication, Carbon Capture, Chlorella Vulgaris.

https://wireilla.com/papers/ijbb/V7N4/7417ijbb01.pdf