Optimization of optical sensors for phytoplankton bioreactor

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Industrial Plankton Inc. is a Canadian bioreactor producer headquartered in Victoria, British Columbia. Their algae bioreactors are a turn-key solution for research, aquaculture, and biotech. Through automation, these bioreactors eliminate the majority of repetitive tasks involved in culturing algae, which are an essential food source for aquaculture of shellfish such as mussels and oysters. Touchscreen controls and realtime graphing of the culture conditions allow operators to quickly assess a culture, and make changes as necessary to optimize the output. An optical sensor built into the flow lines is used to measure the concentration of phytoplankton inside the reactor. The sensor is a key tool for feedback in their control system which regulates light levels and dictates when harvesting and re-charging of the culture with nutrients should occur. The current sensor is based upon measuring the decline in light transmission as phytoplankton densities increase. It has several limitations especially with respect to the range of plankton concentrations that can be accurately assessed. We propose to significantly improve their detector system through electronics upgrades, addition of new sensors and a new measurement and signal processing strategy based on multi-angle scattered light detection. The sensor housing will be re-designed to accommodate these modifications using 3D printing for prototype development. With successful completion of this project we are interested in patenting this product as a cost effective optical density sensor tailored towards measuring phytoplankton densities in bio-reactors.