Our Laboratory
Algaetech laboratory is an advanced laboratory situated in the Technology Park Malaysia premises. In our laboratory, we are currently culturing 4 different strains of pure algae culture (axenic cultures). These pure cultures are maintained and sub cultured regularly on an interval of 6-8 days once according to the culture density.
In the laboratory, we have the
Nannochloropsis species
-which is a non-motile, greenish coloured cell with no flagella. This species has very high EPA and possess approximately 66% oil content of the total cell mass.
Chlorella species
-which is a non motile species, with a cup shaped chloroplast. This species has a high protein content which is commonly used for human consumption
Tetraselmis species
-which is a motile, green cell with 4 flagella’s that emerge from the anterior end of the cell. The significance of the species is in the development of a high productivity (20% of total biomass of algae oil).
Haematococcus species
-which are motile, fresh water organisms. These algae require mainly Nitrogen, Phosphate and Potassium along with Trace Metals and Vitamin for healthy growth. Any presence of salinity will put the algae species under stress, inducing them to produce Astaxanthin. The astaxanthin which is produced is a potent antioxidant of a very high quality which, in current market is highly in demand.We, in the laboratory, maintain the important parameters of culturing the algae and for the steady, healthy growth of algae on a daily basis.
The most important parameters in the cultures are pH, temperature and Total Dissolved Carbon (TDC) and salinity. For all the strains, pure stocks are kept in growth chamber, under a 12L: 12D light cycle (12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark per day) and constantly maintained at 19°c. The stocks are sub cultured once a month and can be used to start cultures in 10 flasks if a problem occurs. The 10 flask are cultured in the culturing room. The light cycle is 12L: 12D for Haematococcus sps.
The temperature is maintained between 22°c to 25°c.The cultures are grown between 6-8 days to reach maximum density and they are sub-cultured. 100ml of culture is used to start a new flask. The balance is used to increase volumes in 10L bottles. The 10L bottles are also cultured in the culturing room of the laboratory. It takes around 10-12 days to reach the maximum density and to use them to start 60L columns. The temperature and light cycles for the cultures in the bottles are the same as for the flasks. The 60L columns are also grown in the culturing room. The temperatures are the same for all cultures in the flask, bottle and column.
The 60L culture is then transferred to the outdoor ponds of 500L capacity, and once the maximum density is achieved, the cultures are sub cultured into the raceway ponds, which currently is our large scale culturing facility with a total capacity of 12686L.
At the TPM premises, we are also running the Photo Bio-Reactor system (PBR). The function of a PBR system is a system that provides an artificial environment for photosynthetic organisms (Algae) to perform a chemical conversion. The PBR is a closed system that is capable of holding a total volume of 600L. 60L of culture from the column is added to the 500L media that is filled into the PBR system. It takes 90 days for the cultures to achieve maximum density. The light cycle is the same as that employed for the cultures in the flask, bottle and column (12L: 12D)
The harvesting and processing of our algae is divided into 3 steps. For research and development, we harvest small volumes, from 500L to 6000L, for small scale experiments (oil and biodiesel)
1st step : Flocculation
The flocculation is a process which induces aggregation and agglomeration of the algae together and after that the algae flocculate on the bottom of the tanks. So, it’s easy to take out the water and to harvest the concentrated algae. Flocculation can be induced by several chemicals. The flocculent employed in the laboratory is Aluminium Sulphate. The algae harvested by flocculation using Aluminium Sulphate cannot be used for human consumption.
2nd step : Centrifugation
The concentrated algae harvested by flocculation are pro cessed with a centrifuge at 4000rpm (rotation per minute). A very dense algae paste is obtained after the centrifugation
3rd step : Spray Dry
The paste obtained from the centrifuge is slightly diluted to get a very high concentrated solution around 18-20% solids. This highly concentrated solution is dried to get powder by using bench spray drier. The inlet temperature and outlet temperature can be adjusted to our needs. Usually the inlet temperature is maintained at 190°c, and the exhaust temperature at 90°c. The flow rate is adjusted according to the temperature used.
