Photodynamic control of contaminating micro-organisms in photobioreactors

光生物反应器中污染微生物的光动力控制

• 批准号: 131828
• 金额: $ 13万
• 依托单位: XANTHELLA LTD
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Feasibility Studies
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2015 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=131828
• 关键词: Photodynamic; control; contaminating; micro; organisms

Algae hold great promise as the source of a wide range of industrial feedstocks ranging from plastics and biofuels to nutraceuticals, pigments and pharmaceuticals. Production costs, however, remain a barrier to algae reaching their potential as industrial feedstocks. One problem is contamination of algal cultures by other micro-organisms which outcompete the algae or are pathogenic. Disinfection controls are often expensive, impractical at scale or ineffective. This project takes the innovative approach of investigating the possibility of photodynamic control of contaminant micro-organisms. The use of light to control unwanted micro-organisms is not new but developments in LED and photonic technologies mean that new approaches can be made to the design of photobioreactors that will make them better at dealing with contaminating micro-organisms while being cheaper to build and operate. Success in the project will give Xanthella considerable competitive advantage in the design of photobioreactors or research and industrial production of algae leading to increased sales and exports.

藻类作为从塑料和生物燃料到营养品、颜料和药品等各种工业原料的来源具有很大的前景。然而，生产成本仍然是藻类实现其作为工业原料的潜力的障碍。一个问题是藻类培养物被其他微生物污染，这些微生物在竞争中胜过藻类或具有致病性。消毒控制通常是昂贵的，不切实际的规模或无效的。该项目采用创新的方法，研究光动力控制污染微生物的可能性。利用光来控制不需要的微生物并不新鲜，但LED和光子技术的发展意味着可以采用新的方法来设计光生物反应器，使其更好地处理污染微生物，同时建造和操作成本更低。该项目的成功将使Xanthella在光生物反应器设计或藻类研究和工业生产方面具有相当大的竞争优势，从而增加销售和出口。