The corrugated tank doubles the surface area exposed to light, so cultures grow denser before self shading limits growth (patent pending). This tank also has a sloped bottom to facilitate circulation and drainage, and is manufactured in-house.
LED and T5 grow lights provide bright, evenly spaced light across the tank surface, providing maximum light without photoinhibition. The brightness can also be controlled, allowing algae with a variety of light requirements to be cultured.
To prevent photoinhibition during scale up, the bioreactor checks the culture density and only turns on lights as they are needed.
AQUACULTURE
At Industrial Plankton Inc. we provide tools to support growth of the aquaculture industry. Our equipment generates the base of the aquatic food chain, reliably, and cost effectively. Using realtime monitoring, user friendly equipment, and datalogging, our equipment simplifies algae production, letting hatcheries focus on their livestock, and not their algae.
The unreliability and high production costs of microalgae are limiting factors to the success of many hatcheries. Despite efforts over the past decade to develop cost-effective artificial diets to supplement live microalgae, on-site live microalgal production remains a critical element in the operation of most successful marine hatcheries.
As the global population continues to increase, and with per capita seafood consumption on the rise, it is vital that hatcheries are able to cost effectively produce the stock required by grow-outs to meet the increasing global demand for seafood.
RESEARCH
Algae research is critical for advancing many sectors, such as biofuels, nutraceuticals, animal feed additives, bioprospecting, and bioremediation. Industrial Plankton’s research bioreactor, the PBR-500L, combines cutting edge technology with a meaningful production volume, allowing researchers to run sophisticated experiments, have their data graphed continuously in realtime, and sterilize the reactor between experiments with the push of a button – all in a fully automated closed system.
Several features have been added to the PBR-500L to improve its effectiveness as a research tool, such as closed loop pH controls, an integrated heater/chiller unit, and a 50% lux increase at full light. The reactors can even be accessed remotely, giving you full access to the controls from anywhere in the world, or facilitating effective collaboration between different researchers.
For fast growing species the reactor can produce 100’s of liters of dense algae each day, providing a more realistic approximation to industrial scale applications that is achieved in test tubes and beakers.
BIOREACTOR GRAPHING
bioreactor-graphing
The bioreactor’s realtime graphing screen. This graph shows a culture growing, and being automatically harvested each time it exceeds the chosen cell density. The photoperiod is also displayed, and can be seen here on the second morning, as the light levels drop to zero for two hours.
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