Design a novel internally illuminated mirror photobioreactor to improve microalgae production through homogeneous light distribution

In this study, a novel internally illuminated mirror photobioreactor (IIM-PBR) was designed to improve microalgae biomass production through providing a homogenous light distribution in cultivation medium. The performance of the IIM-PBR was compared with internally illuminated control photobioreactor (IIC-PBR) and externally illuminated control photobioreactor (EIC-PBR) in terms of cell growth, wastewater treatment and bioproducts generation. Compared with the IIC-PBR and EIC-PBR, the IIM-PBR increased microalgae growth rate up to 60 % and 30%, respectively. Municipal wastewater treatment revealed that the IIM-PBR could significantly improve nutrients removal as the final removal efficiencies of 90%, 95% and 90% were obtained for nitrate, phosphate and COD, respectively. Moreover, the IIM-PBR increased the total bioproducts production by 89% and 46% compared to in the IIC-PBR and EIC-PBR, respectively. Based on the energy consumption calculation, the mirror's light-reflective properties of the IIM-PBR resulted in a significant reduction of total energy consumption (∼10 times).