How to Grow Chlorella for a Food Supplement
Where to grow and how: Chlorella is usually grown in concrete circular ponds up to 45 m in diameter, with agitation by a rotating arm (resembling a clock dial with the second hand running around)., The Tøeboò culture technology: This technology...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Where to grow and how: Chlorella is usually grown in concrete circular ponds up to 45 m in diameter
or, in horizontal oblong basins (known as "raceway ponds") in which a 20–30 centimeter (7.9–11.8 in) thick layer of inorganic nutrient solution with algae, exposed to sunlight and bubbled by carbon dioxide, is continuously moved by means of paddlewheels. -
Step 2: with agitation by a rotating arm (resembling a clock dial with the second hand running around).
It is based on a system of inclined areas on which the algal suspension continuously flows during the day in a very thin layer at an optimum velocity, being thus intensively mixed.
The flow velocity and the roughness of the cultivation surface determine the turbulence.
Intensive turbulence optimizes the changes of light and dark periods of individual algal cells, resulting in a high efficiency of light utilization.
During the night, the algal suspension is stored in aerated collecting tanks.
The one-sided inclined area of the first bioreactors was covered with closely spaced transverse baffles, which slowed down the suspension flow velocity and maintained the desired 5-cm layer of algae on the surface.
The currently used bioreactors, on the other hand, are composed of two baffle-free flow areas inclined in opposite directions and arranged in a meandering way.
Because the flowing algal layer is only 6 mm thick, the suspension volume per unit area is 50 times smaller and the algal concentration 50 times higher than in the basins.
This configuration considerably reduces the energy demands for the circulation of the suspension during its cultivation and for the separation of the algae from the nutrient solution during its harvest. , While in Tøeboò (located at 50o N latitude), the growing season lasts 150 days and the yield is 16
- 20 tones algal dry weight per 1 hectare unit area, in southern Europe or North Africa, where the annual growing season lasts up to 300 days, the yields are up to 3 times higher. -
Step 3: The Tøeboò culture technology: This technology developed and optimized since 1960
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Step 4: is very different.
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Step 5: Optimization of the cultivation technology and the use of high-performance algal strains: This makes it possible to achieve high yields of the Chlorella biomass under suitable climatic conditions.
Detailed Guide
or, in horizontal oblong basins (known as "raceway ponds") in which a 20–30 centimeter (7.9–11.8 in) thick layer of inorganic nutrient solution with algae, exposed to sunlight and bubbled by carbon dioxide, is continuously moved by means of paddlewheels.
It is based on a system of inclined areas on which the algal suspension continuously flows during the day in a very thin layer at an optimum velocity, being thus intensively mixed.
The flow velocity and the roughness of the cultivation surface determine the turbulence.
Intensive turbulence optimizes the changes of light and dark periods of individual algal cells, resulting in a high efficiency of light utilization.
During the night, the algal suspension is stored in aerated collecting tanks.
The one-sided inclined area of the first bioreactors was covered with closely spaced transverse baffles, which slowed down the suspension flow velocity and maintained the desired 5-cm layer of algae on the surface.
The currently used bioreactors, on the other hand, are composed of two baffle-free flow areas inclined in opposite directions and arranged in a meandering way.
Because the flowing algal layer is only 6 mm thick, the suspension volume per unit area is 50 times smaller and the algal concentration 50 times higher than in the basins.
This configuration considerably reduces the energy demands for the circulation of the suspension during its cultivation and for the separation of the algae from the nutrient solution during its harvest. , While in Tøeboò (located at 50o N latitude), the growing season lasts 150 days and the yield is 16
- 20 tones algal dry weight per 1 hectare unit area, in southern Europe or North Africa, where the annual growing season lasts up to 300 days, the yields are up to 3 times higher.
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Jonathan Price
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