Experimental and Simulation Study of Small Scale PV Powered Photobioreactor for Nannochloropsis oculata Cultivation

Abstract

Microalgae has become promising third generation source of biodiesel material recently. One of the methods that is used for microalgae cultivation is by using photobioreactor. The advantages in using photobioreactor to cultivate microalgae are the easiness to control optimum growth parameters and to protect culture from external contamination. However, to run a photobioreactor, considerable amount of energy is required in the form of electricity. To achieve zero emission production, renewable energy system such as PV system can be used to run the photobioreactor. In this research a PV system has been used to supply energy of a small scale photobioreactor for Nannochloropsis oculata cultivation. The experimental setup were operated for one cycle cultivation that takes about seven days long. 500 Wp PV panel and 400 Ah battery capacity of 12V PV system were used. It is shown that the system can supply the required energy during the cultivation time. Yet, the SoC of battery shown decreasing level during operation. It is revealed that the system that is used for experiment need to be redesign and simulation using TRNSYS is used to test the recommended system setup.