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Advances in Space Research 41 (2008) 742747

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Development of a ground-based space micro-algae photo-bioreactor

W. Ai
a

a,b,*

, S. Guo b, L. Qin b, Y. Tang

College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100094, China
b
Department of ECLSS, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing 100094, China
Received 25 October 2006; received in revised form 27 March 2007; accepted 22 June 2007

Abstract
The purpose of the research is to develop a photo-bioreactor which may produce algae protein and oxygen for future astronauts in
comparatively long-term exploration, and remove carbon dioxide in a controlled ecological life support system. Based on technical
parameters and performance requirements, the project planning, design drafting, and manufacture were conducted. Finally, a demonstration test for producing algae was done. Its productivity for micro-algae and performance of the photo-bioreactor were evaluated.
The facility has nine subsystems, including the reactor, the illuminating unit, the carbon dioxide (CO2) production unit and oxygen
(O2) generation unit, etc. The demonstration results showed that the facility worked well, and the parameters, such as energy consumption, volume, and productivity for algae, met with the design requirement. The density of algae in the photo-bioreactor increased from
0.174 g (dry weight) L 1 to 4.064 g (dry weight) L 1 after 7 days growth. The principle of providing CO2 in the photo-bioreactor for
algae and removing O2 from the culture medium was suitable for the demand of space conditions. The facility has reasonable technical
indices, and smooth and dependable performances.
 2007 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Controlled ecological life support system; Photo-bioreactor; Micro-algae; Development; Demonstration test

1. Introduction
During the future space exploration missions and planet
inhabitation, a space dedicated life support system is
needed (Barta and Henninger, 1994). A controlled ecological life support system (CELSS) is based on plants, microorganisms and algae. It can provide oxygen, food, and
water for humans and recycle the wastes. Algae, such as
Spirulina and Chlorella, are primary candidates for the
CELSS because they grow rapidly with a high ratio of edible to non-edible biomass, contain a lot of nutrients, and
have gas-exchange characteristics compatible with human
typical requirements (Brechignac and Schiller, 1992; Minoo
and Bernhard, 1991). However, successful utilization of
micro-algae in CELSS requires an energy ecient and
compact photo-bioreactor. Important factors in achieving
high-density productive algal culture are light, gas

Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +86 10 68746545.

E-mail address: weidangai@126.com (W. Ai).

exchange, medium supply, etc. (Javanmardian and Passon,

1992; Cogne et al., 2003).
In this research, a Ground-based Space Micro-algae
Photo-Bioreactor for CELSS was developed, for culturing
the algae, such as Spirulina and Chlorella, so that it can
provide oxygen and food, and decompose the wastes in
CELSS, and improve the capacity of regenerative life support in the cabin (Bolsunovsky and Zhavoronkov, 1995;
Travieso et al., 1992; Hashimoto and Furukawa, 1989).

2. Photo-bioreactor design and construction

The prototype space micro-algae photo-bioreactor system is shown in Fig. 1. It contains nine subsystems: (1)
photo-bioreactor, which is the site of culturing the microalgae, (2) illuminating-unit, which provides light energy
that the micro-algae needs, (3) carbon dioxide supplying
unit, (4) oxygen removing unit, (5) micro-algae collecting
unit, (6) nutrient refreshing unit, (7) parameter measuring
and controlling unit, (8) heat exchanger, and (9) the

0273-1177/$30  2007 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.asr.2007.06.060

W. Ai et al. / Advances in Space Research 41 (2008) 742747

743

Fig. 1. Flow chart of the ground-based space micro-algae photo-bioreactor.

cabinet, etc. The dimension of the cabinet was 954 mm

(length) 550 mm(width) 1450 mm(height). The other
parts were assembled in the cabinet.
The culture medium circulates in a closed loop that connects the reactor with the other units by a diaphragm
pump. The illuminating unit is composed of two electromagnetic inductive lamp (80 W), providing about
300.0 lmol m 2 s 1 photosynthetic photo ux (PPF) on
the reactor surface. The pH, DO(dissolved oxygen), salinity, temperature, and EC(electric conductivity) in the
stream, are measured continuously and fed to a computer
which stores the date. The on-line micro-algae collecting
unit is used to gain products, by means of micro-ltrating.
Here the principle and method of making the reactor,
carbon dioxide supplying unit and oxygen removing unit,
are described in details.
2.1. Photo-bioreactor
It is not only a main room for the micro-algae growing
and absorbing light energy, but also it decides the yield of
the cultured algae (Cogne et al., 2003; Bolsunovsky and
Zhavoronkov, 1996). Its specic parameters are calculated
based on algaes characteristics and the demanded outputs
of algae. It is well-known that Spirulina sp. is a lamentous
cyanobacterium, which grows under high salinity, pH and
temperature conditions, and its length is about from 50 to
500 lm (Ciferrum, 1983). So, it is considerable for the
photo-bioreactor to use the way of algaes stirring. Furthermore, high-quality uid mixing is an important factor

to achieve high cell concentration in a photo-bioreactor,

it may: (1) avoid deposit of the algae cell and keep the cells
in suspension; (2) alleviate cells that adhering to the interior wall, and improve the chances of the cells illumination;
(3) to eliminate the gradient of pH and nutrient; (4) to
improve gas exchange between oxygen and carbon dioxide;
(5) to reduce the degree of mutual shading and to lower the
probability of photo-inhibition; (6) facilitate the moving of
the cells close to the illuminated surface from the center of
the photo-bioreactor, which provides the opportunity for
photon-unsaturated cells to use up all the absorbed light
energy for photosynthesis before they are exposed to the
light again. To summarize, a proper mixing may signicantly increase the times the cells take up the light energy.
This research developed a new reactor, which adopted
right-and-left balance type of blender. In the reactor,
the rotation speed was low, only 4060 rpm, but it is
enough to meet the demand of mixing, and the shear stress
is comparatively low. The reactor was made of a transparent polyvinyl chloride (PVC) tube which is ultraviolet radiation (UV) resistant and food grade (45.0 cm in length and
30.0 cm in internal diameter with 1.0 cm in wall thickness).
Its scheme is shown in Fig. 2.
2.2. Carbon dioxide supplying unit
Gas transfer is an important issue in photo-bioreactor
design. Carbon dioxide needs to be supplied and the generated oxygen needs to be removed. To cultivate algae in
microgravity, the technical problems must be resolved

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W. Ai et al. / Advances in Space Research 41 (2008) 742747

culture medium
(poor CO2)

CO2

CO2

CO2

culture medium
(rich CO2)

Fig. 2. The scheme of the reactor.

(Minoo and Bernhard, 1991; Lee and Bernhard, 1994). The

research explored technical resolutions for algae cultivation
in microgravity.
Algae cultivation needs ample CO2 for photosynthesis.
Research indicated that utilizing atmosphere that contains
ample CO2 can not only help algae cells grow, but also can
regulate pH value and carbon balance. Insucient watersolubility CO2 supply would restrict the algae growth, but
oversupply of CO2 would prevent the cells from photosynthesis and slow down algae growth (Schumpe, 1985; Watanabe et al., 1995; Cogne et al., 2003). The key issue is how to
supply CO2 to the culture medium for algae cells. CO2 dissolves in water and becomes HCO3 , and then the HCO3 is
absorbed by algae cells for photosynthesis (Schumpe, 1985;
Ciferrum, 1983). Transfer rate of CO2 into the culture medium is aected by many factors, such as the pH, temperature,
the interface proportion of liquid and gas, etc. So, it is essential to select proper method to supply CO2.
In the research, a membrane module was adopted
(micro-porous polyethylene, ID = 0.4 mm, length = 25 cm,
number of bers = 200). Pure CO2 from a pressured bottle
was input to the hollow membrane pipes. While CO2 went
through the micro-porous, it was separated into imperceptible air bubble and diused into culture medium, then
absorbed by algae cell. This method can accelerate the
speed of CO2 dissolving. The test indicated that over 90%
of the CO2 can be dissolved into the medium, and then
was absorbed and utilized by algae cells. Furthermore, this
method can alleviate the load of separating gas from liquid
in weightlessness condition. The scheme of the carbon
dioxide supplying unit is shown in Fig. 3. The operation
of the carbon dioxide supplying unit was based on the
pH of medium. When the pH was over 9.5, the solenoid
valve of switching the outer CO2 was turn on. When the
pH was under 8.0, the valve was turned o.
2.3. Oxygen removing unit
The algae cells utilize the light energy, CO2 and H2O to
synthesize organism, and produce oxygen. Then, the oxygen dissolves into the culture medium. With an extension
of synthesizing process, the content of DO in the culture

CO2
Fig. 3. The scheme of the carbon dioxide supplying unit.

medium increases. However, high DO would inhibit the

photosynthesis of the algae cells. So, it must be removed
timely.
In the research, a membrane module, which contain a
lot of hollow ber membrane (micro-porous polytetrauoroethylene (PTFE), ID = 1.0 mm, length = 30 cm, the
number = 200) was adopted. The hollow membrane tubes
were put into the culture medium. Under a comparatively
low pressure, the oxygen goes through micro-porous and
was removed from the medium. The scheme of the module
is shown in Fig. 4. When the content of DO of the medium
was up to 10.0 mg/L, the vacuum pump was turned on, and
the membrane module began to work. When the DO of the
medium was under 6.0 mg/L, the pump was turned o.
2.4. Operation of the photo-bioreactor
The general outlook of the photo-bioreactor is shown in
Fig. 5. In the research, when all units of the photo-bioreac-

culture medium
(rich O2)

culture medium
(rich O2)

O2

O2

culture medium
(poor O2)

oxygen
(to vacuum pump)
culture medium
(poor O2)
Fig. 4. The scheme of the oxygen removing unit.

W. Ai et al. / Advances in Space Research 41 (2008) 742747

745

was illuminated for 24 h per day. The temperate of

the medium was maintained at 30.0 2.0 C by a heat
exchanger. The pH of the medium remained optimal,
from 8.0 to 10.0 by adding carbon dioxide and alkali.
The PPF on the photo-bioreactor surface was about
300.0 lmol m 2 s 1.

tor were manufactured, they were assembled, and then

debugged in the cabinet. The force of circulating the culture medium was provided by a diaphragm pump. The
pump was of low shear type which moves liquids by the
combination of diaphragm and ball valve. The illumination
of the algae was provided by two electromagnetic inductive
lamp (80 W), providing about 300.0 lmol m 2 s 1 photosynthetic photo ux (PPF) on the reactor surface. Sterilizing was realized by supplying ozone (O3) to the reactor.
After debugging the photo-bioreactor, a demonstration
test was carried out.
3. Demonstration test
The objective was to evaluate performance of the photobioreactor and the productivity for micro-algae.
3.1. Materials and methods
3.1.1. Organisms and culture medium
The culture of Spirulina platensis strain M-2 was
obtained from the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy
of Sciences. Cultures were maintained in liquid culture
medium with the following compositions (g/L): NaCl 1.0;
FeSO47H2O 0.01; Na2EDTA 0.08; K2HPO4 0.5; NaNO3
2.5; K2SO4 1.0; MgSO47H2O 0.2; CaCl2 0.04; NaHCO3
16.8. Additional microelements were: A5 1.0 ml/L; A6
1.0 ml/L. In A5 solution (g/L): H3BO3 2.85; MnCl24H2O
1.81; ZnSO47H2O 0.22; CuSO4H2O 0.08; MoO3 0.015.
In A6 solution (g/L): NH4VO3 0.023; K2Cr2(SO4)424H2O
0.096; NiSO47H2O 0.048; Na2WO44H2O 0.018; Ti(SO4)3
0.04; CO(NO3)26H2O 0.044. All nutrients were dissolved
in distilled water.
3.1.2. Culturing operation
Before the test, the photo-bioreactor was sterilized
with ozone (O3) and washed with sterile distilled water.
Inoculum cultures were derived from samples cultured
in a ask. The ow rate of the culture medium could be
regulated with the diaphragm pump. The photo-bioreactor

3.2. Results and discussion

3.2.1. Photosynthetic productivity
The algae productivity of the photo-bioreactor is shown
in Fig. 6. At the beginning of the experiment, the algae
growth rate was low. However, after 3 days of inoculation,
the algae cells began to reproduce faster. It indicated that
the conditions, including pH, DO, temperature, nutrient,
etc., were suitable for the cyanobacterium Spirulina platensis. In 7 days, the biomass increased from 0.174 g (dry
weight) L 1 to 4.064 g (dry weight) L 1. The average productivity of biomass was up to 0.56 g d 1 L 1, which was
higher than those reported in the small-scale laboratory
tubular systems, the reactor with built-in light sources, culturing Spirulina (Watanabe et al., 1995). However, it was
less than those reported in the Algalcultivator, the platetype bioreactors, incorporating Spirulina or Chlorella.
(Bolsunovsky and Zhavoronkov, 1996; Javanmardian
and Passon, 1992).
3.2.2. pH change
Fig. 7 indicates the pH change of the medium. Generally, the pH of the medium increases during the period of
photosynthesis as a consequence of nutrient uptake, such
as bicarbonate and nitrate. In this experiment, the pH of
4.50
4.00

Biomass (g DW/ l)

Fig. 5. General outlook of the photo-bioreactor.

3.1.3. Analytical methods

The dry mass of Spirulina biomass was determined on
triplicate culture samples (100 ml each) by ltering through
lter paper. The samples were collected each day. The ltered cells were washed with distilled water and dried at
75.0 C into constant mass. The parameters of the medium,
such as pH, DO, salinity, temperature, and EC, are measured automatically.

3.50
3.00
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00
0

Times (day)
Fig. 6. Biomass change of Spirulina during cultivation.

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W. Ai et al. / Advances in Space Research 41 (2008) 742747

12.00

35.0

+CO2

33.0
31.0

Temperature (C)

pH

10.00
8.00
6.00
4.00
0.0

50.0

100.0

150.0

200.0

29.0
27.0
25.0
23.0
21.0
19.0
17.0

Times (hr)

15.0

Fig. 7. pH change of the medium.

25

50

75

100

125

150

175

Times (hr)

the culture was maintained from 8.0 to 10.0. At the beginning of the experiment, the pH was not controlled, and the
carbon dioxide supplying unit was not used. With the algae
cells growing, the pH of the medium increased. When the
pH was up to 9.5, the solenoid valve was turned on to
switch the outer CO2. When CO2 penetrated the porous
membrane tubes and dissolved into the medium, the pH
of the solution began to decline to 8.0. Thus, CO2 was
absorbed and compensated for any pH increase. In 7 days,
carbon dioxide was added four times, and the frequency
intervals became shorter. The data of pH change in the culture medium indicated that the performance of carbon
dioxide supplying unit was normal.
3.2.3. Dissolved oxygen change
During the photosynthesis, the algae released oxygen
into the medium, the content of the DO in the solution
increased. When the value of the DO was up to 10.0 mg/
L, the vacuum pump was switched on, and the oxygen
removing unit began to work, until the DO decreased to
6.0 mg/L. the DO change of the culture medium is shown
in Fig. 8. The arrow show the time the oxygen removing
unit worked. It was frequent that the DO of the culture
medium changed. The oxygen removing unit worked more
frequent than the carbon dioxide supplying, because the
culture medium contains a lot of NaHCO3. NaHCO3 dissociates into dissolved CO2, HCO3 and CO23 . During
the experiment, the DO value of the medium kept within
the range of 2.511.0. It indicated that the dissolved oxygen
removing unit worked well.
12.0

-O2

DO (mg/l)

10.0
8.0
6.0
4.0
2.0
0.0
0

25

50

75

100

125

Times (hr)
Fig. 8. DO change of the culture medium.

150

175

Fig. 9. Temperature change of the culture medium.

3.2.4. Temperature change

Temperature is one of the most important conditions for
the growth of Spirulina. Only under proper temperature
conditions, the algae can grow rapidly. Fig. 9 shows the
change of the temperature of the culture medium. It shows
that the temperature of the medium kept at the range of
28.032.0 C. It indicates the heat exchange unit worked
well also.
4. Conclusion
A ground-based micro-algae photo-bioreactor was
designed and implemented to grow the cyanobacterium
Spirulina platensis. The results of the demonstration test
showed that good photosynthetic performance was
achieved. The parameter of the medium, such as pH, temperature, DO, was controlled eciently. The methods of
supplying carbon dioxide and removing oxygen from the
medium were suitable for the demand of space conditions.
But, the long-term continuous operation of the culture
operation is required to ensure the reliability of the photosynthetic performance in the photo-bioreactor.
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