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. 2022 Jun 16;9(6):257.
doi: 10.3390/bioengineering9060257.

Dynamic Foam Characteristics during Cultivation of Arthrospira platensis

Ameer Ali Kubar  1   2 , Amjad Ali  3 , Santosh Kumar  2 , Shuhao Huo  1 , Muhammad Wajid Ullah  4 , Khulood Fahad Saud Alabbosh  5 , Muhammad Ikram  6 , Jun Cheng  2
Affiliations

Dynamic Foam Characteristics during Cultivation of Arthrospira platensis

Ameer Ali Kubar et al. Bioengineering (Basel). .

Abstract

This study is aimed at understanding the serious foaming problems during microalgal cultivation in industrial raceway ponds by studying the dynamic foam properties in Arthrospira platensis cultivation. A. platensis was cultivated in a 4 L bowl bioreactor for 4 days, during which the foam height above the algal solution increased from 0 to 30 mm with a bubble diameter of 1.8 mm, and biomass yield reached 1.5 g/L. The algal solution surface tension decreased from 55 to 45 mN/m, which favored the adsorption of microalgae on the bubble to generate more stable foams. This resulted in increased foam stability (FS) from 1 to 10 s, foam capacity (FC) from 0.3 to 1.2, foam expansion (FE) from 15 to 43, and foam maximum density (FMD) from 0.02 to 0.07. These results show a decrease in CO2 flow rate and operation temperature when using the Foamscan instrument, which minimized the foaming phenomenon in algal solutions to a significantly lower and acceptable level.

Keywords: carbon dioxide; flow rate; foam; photobioreactor; stability; temperature.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Formation of stable CO2 bubbles at different foam heights.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic illustration of foam measurement system.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mechanism of foam formation during cultivation of A. platensis.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) Foam formation during cultivation of A. platensis cultivation in industrial raceway ponds (b) Qualitative and quantitative demonstration of increasing foam height and bubble diameter after 4 days of microalgal growth.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Formation of microalgal biomass and its impact on the solution surface tension and pH during the 4 days growth of A. platensis. The algal biomass increased with time, which increased the pH and decreased the surface tension of the solution.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The dependence of foaming characteristics, including foam capacity, foam expansion, foam stability, and foam maximum density, on the microalgal biomass dry weight produced for 4 days. Note: Foam Stability = Half-life of foam from generation to disappear, Foam capacity = Ratio of foam volume to gas volume, Foam expansion = Ratio of foam volume to reduced liquid volume from initial to final condition, and Foam maximum density = Ratio of the difference between the initial liquid volume and the final liquid volume with the final foam volume. Note: Each data point is an average of three replicates with a standard deviation, n = 3.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Effects of CO2 flow rates on dynamic characteristics: (a) foam stability and expansion and (b) foam maximum density and capacity.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Effects of temperatures on dynamic characteristics: (a) foam stability and expansion and (b) foam maximum density and capacity.
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