Making microalgae do the work with engineered LED lighting Wednesday, 01 June 2016

While it is known that microalgae can be used to produce biodiesel, researchers now say the single cell organisms can be used to produce raw materials not just for biofuels, but also cosmetics and health food.

Researchers at SINTEF, the largest research organisation in Scandinavia, located in Norway, are using varied LED-lighting to stimulate algae to produce a range of different nutrients.

SINTEF research scientist Andreas Hagemann has set up a laboratory with flasks of green alga Haematococcus pluvialis. Bubbling the liquid inside the flasks circulates the algae, and allows them to be equally exposed to LED light emitted by small light panels outside the flasks.

“We’ve known for some time that micro-organisms that convert light energy to chemical energy respond differently, depending on the type and amount of light to which they are exposed,” explains Hagemann.

The controllability of LED lighting allows the scientists to precisely tune its characteristics, tailoring the light’s spectrum, intensity and duration in order to influence the production of interesting compounds by the algae.

“For example, we can illuminate the alga in such a way that it becomes stressed. It then produces a ‘smart’ substance which it uses to protect itself against the stress,” Hagemann said.

Due to the opacity of the algae, the researchers have to use very strong LEDs, but even so, the intensity of the light is significantly reduced not far inside the flasks.

As part of the project, SINTEF researchers are also carrying out lab tests to see how the intensity of the light emitted by the diodes with different light spectra affects different single-celled organisms.

The ultimate goal of the project is to get the organisms to produce a fatty acid called EPA and the antioxidant astaxanthin, which are both in demand in the health food industry.

This study into LED lighting will also be used by a Norwegian company called Evolys, which is involved in developing and manufacturing various forms of lighting for use in the agriculture and aquaculture industries.

The company is hoping to break into the microalgae industry, and determining the potential of LED lighting technology to influence the production capabilities of algae is a key focus.

In the future, it may be a simple matter to put together the ingredients for a microalgae production factory, using microalgae, a growth medium containing nitrogen and phosphorous, carbon dioxide and the right type of light to then generate a wide range of useful and valuable substances which otherwise are in short supply.

Don't forget to register for the Australian Engineering Conference 2016 in Brisbane on November 23-25.