Flashing light does not improve photosynthetic performance and growth of green microalgae

Peter S.C. Schulze*, Celeste Brindley, José M. Fernández, Ralf Rautenberger, Hugo Pereira, René H. Wijffels, Viswanath Kiron*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

36 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Light attenuation in photobioreactors is a major bottleneck in microalgal production. A possible strategy for artificial light-based microalgal production to deliver light deep inside the culture is through the periodical emission of high intensity light flashes (so-called flashing light). However, our results did not show improved photosynthetic rates compared to continuous light for dilute and concentrated Tetraselmis chui cultures exposed to flashing light with various repetition rates (frequencies 0.01 Hz–1 MHz), light-dark ratios (duty cycles: 0.001–0.7) or time-averaged light intensity (50–1000 μmol s 1 m 2). Likewise, flashing light applied to Chlorella stigmatophora and T. chui batch cultures could not enhance growth. However, we observed flashing light effects at different duty cycles and frequencies, depending on cell acclimation, culture concentration, and light intensity. In conclusion, artificial flashing light does not improve microalgal biomass productivities in photobioreactors, but low frequencies (f < 50 Hz) may be still used to improve light harvesting-associated biomolecules production.

Original languageEnglish
Article number100367
JournalBioresource Technology Reports
Volume9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2020

Keywords

  • Artificial light
  • Chlorella
  • Flashing light
  • Oxygen evolution
  • Photosynthesis
  • Tetraselmis

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