中東におけるレースウェイ型培養敷設を用いたクロレラの屋外大規模培養試験
微細藻類は機能性食品への利用のみならず、単位面積当たりの収量が高く食料生産と競合しないバイオマス資源として注目されている。我々は効率的な培養技術開発のために、概して温暖で降雨量が少ない中東での屋外培養試験を試みた。培養には高温条件で生育可能なクロレラ、Chlorella sorokiniana NIES2169株を用い、徐々にスケールアップしながら培養し、最終的に400m2のレースウェイ型培養施設での大規模培養に成功した。また、培養環境把握のために、小中規模の培養施設を用いた各種データ取得と検討を行った。その結果、培養方法に応じた気温と水温の関係や、その際のCO2供給量など、商業規模での培養に必要な知見を得た。
Large-Scale Outdoor Test of Chlorella Culturing in Raceway System in the Middle East
Microalgae gain attention not only for their use in functional foods, but also as a biomass resources with a high yield per unit area that does not compete for land with food production. As a part of development work on an efficient technology, we conducted a field culture demonstration in the Middle East, which is generally warm and has low rainfall and high illuminance. Chlorella sorokiniana NIES2169 which is high temperature adaptive species was used for culture test. We succeeded in large-scale culture ourdoor culture using a 400m2 raceway facility. In order to determine the most effective culture environment for algal culture in advance of demonstration, facility of small- and medium-scale were used for data gathering tests and examinations.The demonstration yielded knowledge that is crucial to developing a commercial-scale culture facility, such as how air temperature and culture liquid temperature fluctuate according to the condition of the culture, the required amount of CO2, and other factors.