Lipids productivity of cyanobacterium Anabaena vaginicola in an internally illuminated photobioreactor using LED bar lights

Abstract Concerns over environmental issues exists and desire to decrease of their extent, have directed efforts toward green energy production. Growth behavior of Anabaena vaginicola was determined in a photobioreator which illuminated internally (IIPBR) using LED bar light. Excessive heat generated in the IIPBR was taken care of by applying a novel air-cooled system. Further note in experimentation was to find favorable cultivation conditions in the IIPBR for A. vaginicola growth and its lipids production capacity. The following results are expressed: 80 µmol photons m −2 s −1 as light intensity, 0.5 g/l as NaNO 3 , and 120 ml/min as CO 2 amount being expressed in terms of aeration rate. The findings were interpreted in terms of a two-component system where the genes encoded to the relevant proteins are present in cyanobacteria and their expressiveness depends on environmental stress. By determining growth rate constant as 0.11 d −1 , the productivity in terms of biomass formation was calculated as 202.6 mg L −1 d −1 . While rate of lipids production by the test cyanobacterium is 15.65 mg L −1 d −1 . Based on total energy used for IIPBR performance, biomass productivity per unit power input equals to 0.74 g W −1 d −1 and this is in favorable position compared with other photobioreactors.