JPH0732699B2 - Photosynthetic microorganism culture device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a photosynthetic microorganism culturing apparatus, and more particularly to a treatment apparatus for organic wastewater by so-called photosynthetic microorganisms such as photosynthetic bacteria and / or microalgae, and clean energy of hydrogen (H ₂ ). The present invention relates to a photosynthetic microorganism culture device used as a production device, a device for producing various useful substances, and / or a device for fixing carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) in the atmosphere, which is a cause of global warming.
The present invention also relates to a novel culture device for photosynthetic microorganisms such as photosynthetic bacteria and / or microalgae, which is different from the prior art (device), and at the same time, an innovative culture technology that contributes to elimination of global environmental pollution. (Device).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, most of the culturing devices for culturing photosynthetic microorganisms either supply light from the outer wall of the device to a liquid in a tank with a rod-shaped fluorescent lamp, or rod-shaped white fluorescent light at the center of the inside of the device. The type that has a lamp attached to supply light to the liquid in the tank was the mainstream. However, recently, various technologies have been researched and developed, and as a typical technology, sunlight or artificial light is concentrated and transmitted by an optical fiber, and the transmitted light is further diffused into a liquid in a tank by a special surface emitting fiber. Or a rod-shaped rod made of resin is provided with a scattering groove in the longitudinal direction, and an apparatus for culturing photosynthetic microorganisms by vertically and linearly diffusing light in a tank has been developed.

As described above, the photosynthetic microorganism culturing apparatus still exists at the present stage, but the conventional culturing apparatus has the technical problems as listed below. In order to improve these fatal defects, Various researches are conducted in each research institute. (1) A culture device that supplies light energy with a fluorescent lamp has a small amount of light energy that can be transmitted regardless of whether the supply method is an outside tank type or an inside tank type, and is not suitable for large-scale culture and concentrated culture of photosynthetic microorganisms. Eligible. (2) The photosynthetic microorganisms adhere to the inner wall of the culture device in the outer type of (1) and the surface of the fluorescent lamp in the inner type, and the diffusion of light into the liquid in the tank is hindered. The attached photosynthetic microorganisms are destroyed by strong light and die, or their activities are significantly deteriorated. (3) The method of transmitting optical energy with an optical fiber in the tank has a much larger amount of transmitted light energy than the fluorescent lamp method, but it is extremely fine and many optical fibers have a large amount of photosynthetic microorganisms adhered to it in a concentrated manner, and In addition, the light diffusing function is lost, and the optical fibers are clogged with each other, which hinders the circulation of the liquid in the tank.

[0004]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As described above,
At present, many technical problems remain in the conventional photosynthetic microorganism culture device. That is, the fluorescent lamp system has a small amount of light energy that can be transmitted and has a low transmission energy efficiency of about 10%, so that energy is wasted. In addition, the optical fiber method can transmit a larger amount of light energy than the fluorescent lamp method, but a large amount of photosynthetic microorganisms adhere to the ultra-fine optical fiber in a dense manner, and it often does not function properly as a culture device even when used for a short period of time. Moreover, the optical fiber needs to be cleaned, and operation management is extremely complicated. The present invention provides an apparatus for cultivating a photosynthetic microorganism, which is improved in these fatal defects of the conventional apparatus, which enables significantly large-scale culturing as compared with the prior art, and which is energy-saving and remarkably easy to operate. Is an issue.

[0005]

In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, in a culture device for culturing photosynthetic microorganisms such as photosynthetic bacteria and microalgae, a culture tank having a liquid circulation system, sunlight and / or Alternatively, it has an optical fiber for transmitting artificial light, and a plurality of light guides connected to the optical fiber, having flexibility and inserted into the liquid in the tank, and having a plurality of light guides for emitting light from the side surface and diffusing it into the liquid in the tank, and The photosynthetic microorganism culturing apparatus is characterized in that the light guide has a structure that can be vibrated by the action of a liquid circulating system. In the above culture device, the liquid circulation system jets the culture liquid sucked from the lower part of the culture tank from the upper part, or jets the culture liquid sucked from the upper part of the culture tank in the tangential direction of the inner wall of the tank from the lower part of the culture tank. It is possible to vibrate the light guide body. A vibration pump can be provided in the circulation path of the liquid circulation system, and the light guide can also be vibrated by the vibration pump. Further, the liquid circulation system can introduce a gas such as carbon dioxide or oxygen and circulate it as a gas-liquid mixed fluid. The plurality of flexible light guides that are inserted into the liquid in the bath and emit light from the side surfaces are fixed at one end by connecting portions that connect to optical fibers that transmit sunlight and / or artificial light. The other end is fixed by a fixing plate made of a light-reflecting material, which is supported from a bottom or an upper part of the culture tank in the vertical axis direction, and which is supported by a column that expands and contracts periodically, and is inserted into the liquid in the tank. The shape of the culture tank may be a round-bottomed cylindrical shape and / or a round-bottomed truncated cone shape.

In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, in a culture device for culturing photosynthetic microorganisms such as photosynthetic bacteria and microalgae, a culture tank having a liquid circulation system and sunlight and / or artificial light are used. An optical fiber for transmitting the light; and a plurality of light guides connected to the optical fiber and having flexibility, which are flexible and emit light from a side surface to diffuse the light into the liquid in the tank, and the light guide Is a photosynthetic microorganism culturing apparatus, which has a structure capable of vibrating by the action of liquid flowing in a liquid circulation system. That is, the present invention transmits sunlight and / or artificial light (fluorescent lamp, halogen lamp, metal halide lamp and xenon lamp) to an incubator by an optical fiber, and transmits the transmitted sunlight and / or artificial light to a liquid in a tank. It has a flexible structure that is inserted into the inside of the tank and diffuses into the liquid in the bath from a plurality of light guides that emit light from the side surface, and this light guide becomes a structure that can vibrate by the flow of liquid or mechanical action. The photosynthetic microorganism culturing device is characterized in that INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention significantly improves the utilization efficiency of light energy, and at the same time, can solve the problem of adhesion, which is the most problematic in the culture of photosynthetic microorganisms and is a significant barrier to obtaining highly accurate experimental data. It is a term photosynthetic microorganism culture device.

The light guide used in the present invention is capable of uniformly irradiating the light transmitted by the optical fiber with high density in the culture tank. For example, the optical fiber, a rod made of acrylic resin or other resin, or the like is used. The surface is processed with scratches or grooves, or the light is scattered by a glass containing diffuser (beads are put in the fiber). In this case, in order to uniformly diffuse light in the tank, it is preferable that the density of scratches or grooves on the surface or the density of beads placed in the fiber be increased as the distance from the connection point of the optical fiber increases.

[0008]

In the conventional photosynthetic microorganism culturing device, a fluorescent lamp or an optical fiber is installed in the tank to disperse the light into the liquid in the tank. The mainstream of this type of apparatus is the attachment of bacteria or algae. Is a major obstacle in terms of research and / or practical use. On the other hand, the present invention circulates the culture liquid and gas in the tank and introduces them into the tank at a high speed as a gas-liquid mixed fluid to cause a high-speed flow in the liquid in the tank, the light guide, the wall surface of the culture tank, and This is an innovative photosynthetic microorganism culture device that solves this problem by minimizing the adherence of bacterial cells or algae to various sensors. In particular, the present invention uses a flexible light guide, which prevents the light guide from oscillating unsteadily due to the water flow and prevents the light guide surface from forming a portion where the flow velocity is low. This is an innovative photosynthetic microorganism culture device that has a further enhanced effect of preventing the adherence of the body or algae. The vibration pump is a completely new type of pump based on the pumping principle that effectively applies the vibration (resonance phenomenon) of the fluid in the pipe that is generated by vibrating a cylindrical straight pipe with a spring valve at the upper end in the pipe axial direction. Can be autoclave sterilized,
Also, because there is no risk of damage to bacterial cells or algae due to pressurization like a roller tube pump, and a large flow rate can be secured even with a liquid containing particles, a high-speed flow is created in the liquid in the tank of the microorganism culture device. In terms of the purpose, it can exhibit remarkably superior performance as compared with the prior art.

Further, the conventional photosynthetic microorganism culture device diffuses carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) and / or oxygen required for growth as fine bubbles into the liquid in the tank from an air diffuser such as an air diffuser. However, in this type of device, the firing of the culture solution is a major obstacle to research and / or practical use. On the other hand, in the present invention, carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) and / or oxygen required for the growth of the photosynthetic microorganisms are introduced into the culture tank with the circulating culture solution as a gas-liquid mixed fluid by a vibration pump. Is a pump based on the pumping principle that positively utilizes the resonance phenomenon of the fluid in the suction pipe line. Since the fluid is vigorously agitated and mixed inside the pump, necessary carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) and / or oxygen is pumped. It can be sufficiently dissolved in the culture medium while reaching the culture tank from the inner duct.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to these. Example 1 FIG. 1 shows that the culture tank (1) has a round-bottomed cylindrical shape, and the culture solution and gas in the tank are circulated to form a gas-liquid mixed fluid inside the light guide body. It is explanatory drawing regarding the photosynthetic microorganism culture apparatus which introduce | transduces into a tank at high speed from the installed nozzle. The sunlight and / or artificial light transmitted by the optical fiber (2) is introduced into the light guide (4) which has flexibility at the optical fiber / light guide connection part (3) and emits light from the side surface, It is evenly dispersed in the liquid in the tank. Cultured bacterial cells in the light guide (4) that mixes the in-tank liquid and the cultured bacterial cells or algae evenly, and is inserted into the in-tank solution, the in-tank solution, and the measurement sensor inserted in the in-tank solution Alternatively, in order to prevent algal cells from adhering and to increase the efficiency of dissolving gas components such as carbon dioxide and oxygen in the liquid in the tank, the culture liquid and gas in the tank are circulated to form a gas-liquid mixed fluid in the upper part of the culture tank. It is introduced into the tank at a higher speed than the nozzle (5) installed in. The fluid ejected at a high speed from the nozzle (5) first hits the light guides (4) inserted into the liquid in the tank, violently vibrates these light guides (4), and prevents the adherence of bacteria or algae. At the same time, these flexible light guides (4) are pushed into the tank. In order to give appropriate vibration to the light guide (4), the flow velocity of the circulation flow may be changed from time to time, the gas-liquid mixing ratio in the circulation flow may be changed, or a baffle plate may be placed at the tip of the nozzle (5). Providing eccentricity to this baffle or connecting with a spring. Since these light guides (4) have the property of emitting light from the side surface and are dispersed in the tank, the sunlight and / or artificial light introduced into the culture device is evenly distributed in the tank liquid. And spread efficiently.

The fluid jetted at a high speed from the nozzle (5) spreads the light guide (4) into the tank and then spreads vigorously into the tank to remove cultured bacterial cells or algal cells and gas in the solution in the tank. Mix evenly. Since the bottom of the culture tank (1) has a round bottom, adherence of cultured bacterial cells or algal cells due to retention can be prevented. Air and carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) required for culture
The enriched air and / or carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) is continuously or intermittently introduced into the gas circulation system (6) and the same amount is discharged. Since air, carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) -enriched air and / or carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) are repeatedly introduced into the tank by the circulation system (6), the efficiency of dissolution in the culture solution is significantly increased. A part of the culture solution is sucked from the bottom of the culture tank, passes through the culture solution circulation system (7), and is combined with the circulation gas of the gas circulation system (6) as a gas-liquid mixed fluid, and is directly connected to a cylinder with a spring valve at the upper end. The vibration pump (8), which is a completely new type of pump based on the pumping principle that effectively applies the vibration (resonance phenomenon) of the fluid in the pipe caused by vibrating the pipe in the axial direction, is faster than the nozzle (5) in the tank. Will be introduced to. The vibration pump can sterilize the pump itself by autoclave, and unlike a roller tube pump, there is no fear of damage to bacterial cells or algae due to pressurization, and a large flow rate can be secured even with liquids containing particles. For the purpose of creating a high-speed flow in the liquid in the tank of the culturing apparatus for microorganisms, it is possible to exhibit remarkably superior performance as compared with the prior art. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a flow velocity changing device in which a baffle plate (11) provided in front of the nozzle (5) is connected by a spring (12).

Example 2 FIG. 3 shows that a gas-liquid mixed fluid introduced into the tank at a high speed is jetted from the wall surface at the lower part of the culture tank in the tangential direction of the inner wall of the tank, and the culture solution is discharged from the center of the vortex above the liquid in the tank. It is explanatory drawing regarding the photosynthetic microbial apparatus characterized by pulling out. The gas-liquid mixed fluid is a jet port (14) provided on the wall surface in the lower part of the culture tank.
Is ejected in the tangential direction of the inner wall of the tank. The culture liquid is drawn out from the suction port (13) provided at the center of the vortex above the liquid in the tank, passes through the culture liquid circulation system (7), and is combined with the circulation gas of the gas circulation system (6) to form a gas-liquid mixed fluid. As a vibration pump (8)
Is again introduced into the tank at high speed. As a result, a swirling flow is generated in the tank, and a water flow is always generated around the light guide (4) inserted into the liquid in the tank, so that adherence of cultured bacterial cells or algae to the light guide (4) is prevented. Can be prevented. Air, carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) -enriched air and / or carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) necessary for culture are continuously or intermittently introduced into the gas circulation system (6) as in FIG. 1, and the same amount is discharged. To be done. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram relating to the water flow ejected from the ejection port (14) in the tangential direction of the inner wall of the tank. The flow velocity in the tangential direction is preferably 50 cm / s or more in order to prevent adherence of cultured bacterial cells or algal cells to the inner wall of the tank, the light guide (4), and the like.

Embodiment 3 FIG. 5 shows a flexible multi-line light guide that emits light from the side surface and is fixed at one end by a connecting portion for connecting to an optical fiber that transmits sunlight and / or artificial light. The other end is fixed by a fixing plate made of a light-reflecting material that is supported by a column that is movable in the vertical axis direction from the bottom of the culture tank and expands and contracts periodically, and is inserted into the liquid in the tank. It is explanatory drawing regarding the photosynthetic microorganism culture apparatus which is said. Light guide (4)
Is an optical fiber / light guide connection part (3) and a fixing plate (15)
The fixing plate (15) is fixed by and is supported by a column (16) that is movable in the vertical axis direction and that expands and contracts periodically. Since the light guide body (4) has flexibility, it is possible to repeatedly take a lantern shape and a cylindrical shape in which the central portion expands to the outside due to the support rod (16) expanding and contracting periodically. The effect of preventing the adherence of the fungus body or the alga body to the light guide body (4) is further increased by this vibration. Support (16)
May be mechanically expandable or contracted, or may have a spring structure, as long as it can apply appropriate vibrations to the light guide (4). In this case, the gas-liquid mixed fluid, which is introduced into the tank at high speed, may be introduced from a nozzle installed inside the light guide as shown in FIG. 1, or as shown in FIG. It may be jetted in the tangential direction of the inner wall of the tank from the jet outlet provided on the wall surface. Since the lower fixing plate is made of a material that reflects light, the light energy transmitted to the light guide (4) is diffused into the liquid in the tank with very little loss.

Example 4 FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of a round-bottomed frustoconical photosynthetic microorganism culture device culture tank. Since the shape of the culture tank (17) is frustoconical, as in FIG. 1, there is less stagnant portion between the light guide body and the tank wall that are spread into the tank by the fluid ejected at a high speed from the nozzle. The effect of further increasing the adherence-preventing effect of cultured bacterial cells or algae can be obtained.

[0015]

According to the present invention, as described in detail, the following operational effects are exhibited. (1) Since sunlight and / or artificial light is inserted into the culture tank using an optical fiber as a transmission medium, it has flexibility and is diffused into the liquid in the tank from a plurality of light guides that emit light from the side surface. It is extremely energy-saving with respect to the method of diffusing light by a fluorescent lamp and can supply a large amount of light energy to the culture tank. (2) The culture liquid and gas in the tank are circulated and introduced into the tank at a high speed as a gas-liquid mixed fluid by using a vibration pump, so that a high-speed flow is caused in the liquid in the tank, the light guide, the wall surface of the culture tank, In addition, it is possible to prevent bacterial cells or algae from adhering to various sensors, and since the light guide itself has flexibility, the light guide vibrates unsteadily due to the water flow, and the light guide It is possible to prevent formation of a portion having a low flow velocity on the body surface, and to further enhance the effect of preventing the adherence of bacterial cells or algae. (3) The vibration pump can sterilize the pump itself in an autoclave, and there is no risk of damage to fungi or algae due to pressurization like a roller tube pump,
And since a large flow rate can be secured even with liquids containing particles,
For the purpose of creating a high-speed flow in the liquid in the tank of the culturing apparatus for microorganisms, it is possible to exhibit remarkably superior performance as compared with the prior art.

(4) By circulating the culture solution and gas as a gas-liquid mixed fluid using a vibration pump, the fluid is vigorously agitated and mixed inside the pump, and carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) and / or oxygen required for growth are obtained. Since it can be sufficiently dissolved in the culture solution while it reaches the culture tank from the pipe line in the pump, it is not necessary to install an air diffuser tube with a stirring device in the culture tank, which makes the structure inside the tank extremely simple. be able to. (5) In the photosynthetic microorganism culturing apparatus in which the culture liquid and gas in the tank are circulated and introduced into the tank at a higher speed than the nozzle installed inside the light guide inserted into the tank as a gas-liquid mixed fluid The fluid sprayed at a higher speed first hits the light guides inserted into the liquid in the tank, violently vibrates these light guides to prevent the adherence of bacterial cells or algae, and spreads vigorously into the tank. It is possible to uniformly mix the cultured bacterial cells or algal cells and the gas in the liquid. (6) The gas-liquid mixed fluid introduced into the tank at a high speed is ejected from the wall surface of the lower part of the culture tank in the tangential direction of the inner wall of the tank, and the culture solution is drawn out from the center of the vortex above the liquid in the tank. In the photosynthetic microorganism culturing device, the liquid-gas mixture is ejected in the tangential direction of the inner wall of the tank from the jet port provided on the wall surface at the lower part of the culture tank, and the suction port is provided at the center of the vortex above the liquid in the tank. A swirling flow is generated in the tank by being pulled out from the tank, and a water flow is always generated around the light guide inserted into the liquid in the tank, so that adherence of cultured bacterial cells or algae to the light guide is prevented. It is possible to uniformly mix the cultured bacterial cells or algal cells and the gas in the liquid in the tank.

(7) One end is fixed by a connecting part which is connected to an optical fiber for transmitting sunlight and / or artificial light, and the other end is a column which is movable from the bottom of the culture tank in the longitudinal direction and expands and contracts periodically. In a supported light guide that is fixed by a light-reflecting material fixing plate, the light guide has flexibility, so the pillars expand and contract regularly, causing the center to expand outward. The lantern-shaped shape and the cylindrical shape can be repeatedly obtained, and the vibration can further increase the effect of preventing the adherence of bacteria or algae to the light guide. (8) In a culture tank having a round-bottomed cylindrical shape, since the bottom is round, it is possible to prevent adherence of cultured bacterial cells or algal cells due to retention. (9) In a round-bottom frustoconical culture tank, since the shape is frustoconical, one end is fixed and the other end is not fixed, and the light guide inserted into the liquid in the tank is the light guide. When it is spread into the tank by the fluid sprayed at a high speed from the nozzle installed inside, there will be less stagnant space with the tank wall, further increasing the effect of preventing adherence of cultured cells or algae. You can

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of a culture device showing an example of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged explanatory view of the flow velocity changing device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a culture device showing another example of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional explanatory view of a jet outlet portion of FIG.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of a culture device showing another example of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of a culture device showing an example of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: Culture tank, 2: Optical fiber, 3: Optical fiber / light guide connection part, 4: Light guide, 5: Nozzle, 6: Gas circulation system, 7: Culture liquid circulation system, 8: Vibration pump, 9: Solid Liquid separation device, 10: Fresh medium tank, 11: Baffle plate, 12:
Spring, 13: suction port, 14: jet port, 15: light guide fixing plate with reflector, 16: support

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Office reference number FI technical display location G02B 6/00 331 6920-2K // A01G 33/00 8602-2B B01D 53/62 C01B 13/02 Z C02F 3/34 A (72) Inventor Toru Umeda 4-2-1 Motofujisawa, Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture EBARA Research Institute (72) Inventor Tadashi Adachi 4-2-1, Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture No. Incorporated company EBARA Research Institute (72) Inventor Etsuko Takizawa 4-2-1 Honfujisawa, Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture Incorporated EBARA Research Institute Co., Ltd. (72) Yasunori Toya 4-2 Motofujisawa, Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture No. 1 Incorporated by EBARA Research Institute Co., Ltd. (56) Reference JP-A 1-291783 (JP, A) JP-A 61-139382 (JP, A) JP-A 53-20481 (JP, A)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A culture apparatus for culturing photosynthetic microorganisms such as photosynthetic bacteria and microalgae, a culture tank having a liquid circulation system, an optical fiber for transmitting sunlight and / or artificial light, and an inside of the tank connected to the optical fiber. It has the flexibility to be inserted into the liquid and has a plurality of light guides that emit light from the side surface and diffuse it into the liquid in the tank, and the light guides can vibrate by the action of the liquid flow in the liquid circulation system. A photosynthetic microorganism culture device characterized by having a different structure. 2. The photosynthetic microorganism culturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a vibration pump is provided in the circulation path of the liquid circulation system. 3. In a culture device for culturing photosynthetic microorganisms such as photosynthetic bacteria and microalgae, a culture tank, an optical fiber for transmitting sunlight and / or artificial light, and an optical fiber connected to the optical fiber and inserted into a liquid in the tank. A plurality of light guides having flexibility and emitting light from a side surface and diffusing into a liquid in the tank, and the light guides are provided so as to be vibrable by a mechanical action. A photosynthetic microorganism culture device.