Growth of Spirulina platensis enhanced under intermittent illumination

The growth characteristics of microalgae under different light conditions (continuous or intermittent) are essential information for photobioreactor design and operation. In this study, we constructed a thin-layer (10 mm) flat plate photobioreactor device with a light/dark (L/D) alternation system to investigate the growth of Spirulina platensis under two different light regimes: (1) continuous illumination in a wide range of light intensities (1.00–77.16 mW cm−2); (2) intermittent illumination in medium frequency (0.01–20 Hz). Specific growth rate and light efficiency based on biomass production were determined for each round of experiment. Four regions (light limited region, intermediate region, light saturated region and light inhibition region) were recognized according to the results under continuous illumination. Under intermittent illumination, when L/D frequency increased from 0.01 Hz to 20 Hz, specific growth rate and light efficiency were enhanced. However, the enhancement was different, depending on the applied light intensity and light fraction. The higher the light intensity, the greater the enhancement would be when L/D frequency increased from 0.01 Hz to 20 Hz; and the higher the light intensity, the lower the light fractions is needed to maintain light efficiency as high as that under continuous illumination in light limited region.