Photobioreactor apparatus, method and application

Abstract

A photobioreactor includes an input light delivery component and a plurality of photobioreactor media disposed in a stacked relationship, each of which is coupled to the input light delivery component, wherein each photobioreactor medium is adapted to be inoculated with a photosynthetic, biofuel-producing culture, further wherein each photobioreactor medium includes at least one hollow fiber membrane (HFM) disposed thereon in a region that is adapted to be inoculated with the photosynthetic, biofuel-producing culture, that can transport at least one of a gas and a photobioreactor product producible by the photosynthetic, biofuel-producing culture, wherein each photobioreactor medium is characterized by an input light-scattering mechanism. A method for making a biofuel including providing a stacked photobioreactor assembly including a plurality of unit photobioreactor mediums each of which is inoculated with a photosynthetic, biofuel-producing culture, characterized by a light scattering mechanism and including at least one hollow fiber membrane (HFM) disposed in-situ on the photobioreactor medium; providing a nutrient gas to the biofuel-producing culture via the at least one HFM; and illuminating each unit photobioreactor medium with a selected spectrum of input light via the light scattering mechanism in each unit photobioreactor medium.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.