How innovative light design can improve microalgae production

With this work we report on the design of two lighting systems based on LEDs to increase the efficiency and efficacy of microalgae production. Two lighting units are designed, discussed and their performances in biomass production of Arthrospira Maxima are evaluated. The first light design is used to demonstrate that an accurate spectral tuning can improve the photosynthetic efficiency as opposed to white light. The second light source has been designed to achieve high intensity, short pulses of light and demonstrate that under pulsing light regime the photosynthetic efficiency can be further improved. In particular we will focus into matching the absorption spectra of the algae light by accurately mixing the emission spectra of different Light Emitting Diode (LED) sources. By using pulsating light sources it also possible to boost the efficiency of the system by better exploiting the photon absorption and conversion principle.