Photobioreactor Cell Culture Systems, Methods for Preconditioning Photosynthetic Organisms, and Cultures of Photosynthetic Organisms Produced Thereby
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method comprising acts of:
- exposing a liquid medium comprising at least one species of photosynthetic organisms therein to a defined set of growth conditions, which are selected to simulate conditions to which the photosynthetic organisms will subsequently be exposed in a photobioreactor, to precondition the photosynthetic organisms to the defined set of growth conditions;
harvesting photosynthetic organisms preconditioned in the exposing step; and
inoculating a photobioreactor with at least a portion of the harvested photosynthetic organisms.
10 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Certain embodiments of the invention involve methods and systems for preselecting, adapting, and preconditioning one or more species of photosynthetic organisms, such as algae, to specific environmental and/ or operating conditions to which the photosynthetic organisms will subsequently be exposed during utilization in a photobioreactor apparatus of a gas treatment system. Also disclosed are new algal strains and cultures that can be produced by practicing the preselection, adaption, and preconditioning methods.
-
Citations
87 Claims
-
1. A method comprising acts of:
-
exposing a liquid medium comprising at least one species of photosynthetic organisms therein to a defined set of growth conditions, which are selected to simulate conditions to which the photosynthetic organisms will subsequently be exposed in a photobioreactor, to precondition the photosynthetic organisms to the defined set of growth conditions; harvesting photosynthetic organisms preconditioned in the exposing step; and inoculating a photobioreactor with at least a portion of the harvested photosynthetic organisms. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16-40. -40. (canceled)
-
41. A method for facilitating the operation of a photobioreactor system comprising an act of:
providing at least one species of photosynthetic organisms that has been preconditioned by exposure to a defined set of growth conditions that are selected to simulate conditions to which the photosynthetic organisms will subsequently be exposed in a photobioreactor system during its operation.
-
42-43. -43. (canceled)
-
44. A method of operating a photobioreactor apparatus comprising acts of:
-
inoculating the photobioreactor apparatus with at least one species of photosynthetic organisms that has been preconditioned by exposure to a defined set of growth conditions; and operating the photobioreactor apparatus under conditions substantially similar to the defined set of growth conditions.
-
-
45-46. -46. (canceled)
-
47. A preconditioned culture of at least one species of photosynthetic organisms produced by a method comprising acts of:
-
exposing a culture of at least one species of photosynthetic organisms to at least one set of defined growth conditions that comprises exposure of the at least one species of photosynthetic organisms to a source of light capable of driving photosynthesis incident upon at least a portion of the photosynthetic organisms at an intensity at least that capable of causing a reduction in the growth rate of an unadapted sample of the culture via photoinhibition, and variation of the intensity of the light to cause photomodulation at a light/dark cycling frequency of at least one light/dark transition per minute; and forming the preconditioned culture by adapting the at least one species of photosynthetic organisms to the defined growth conditions so that the preconditioned culture is able to grow at the defined growth conditions with a doubling time that is no greater than 50% that of an unadapted sample of the culture subjected to the same defined growth conditions.
-
-
48-74. -74. (canceled)
-
75. A culture of at least one species of photosynthetic organisms preconditioned to a defined set of growth conditions and having the ability to grow with a doubling time that is no greater than 50% that of an equivalent but non-preconditioned culture subjected to the same defined growth conditions, wherein the defined growth conditions comprise:
-
exposure of the at least one species of photosynthetic organisms to a source of light capable of driving photosynthesis incident upon at least a portion of the photosynthetic organisms at an intensity at least that capable of causing a reduction in the growth rate via photoinhibition of the equivalent but non-preconditioned culture; and variation of the intensity of the light to cause photomodulation at a light/dark cycling frequency of at least one light/dark transition per minute.
-
-
76-85. -85. (canceled)
-
86. A cell culture system comprising:
-
at least one cell culture chamber; a source of artificial light capable of driving photosynthesis configured and positioned to direct light to an inner volume of the cell culture chamber; and a light source modulator that is constructed and arranged to vary the intensity of the artificial light between a first intensity to a second intensity at a frequency of at least one variation per second.
-
-
87-100. -100. (canceled)
Specification