Photobioreactor Cell Culture Systems, Methods for Pre-Conditioning Photosynthetic Organisms, and Cultures of Photosynthetic Organisms Produced Thereby

Abstract

Certain embodiments of the invention involve methods and systems for preselecting, adapting, and preconditioning one or more species of photosynthetic organisms, such as algae, to specific environmental and/or operating conditions to which the photosynthetic organisms will subsequently be exposed during utilization in a photobioreactor apparatus of a gas treatment system. Also disclosed are new algal strains and cultures that can be produced by practicing the preselection, adaption, and preconditioning methods.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A preconditioned culture of at least one species of photosynthetic organisms produced by a method comprising acts of:
 exposing a liquid medium comprising at least one species of photosynthetic organisms therein to a defined set of growth conditions, which are selected to simulate conditions to which the photosynthetic organisms will subsequently be exposed in a photobioreactor, to precondition the photosynthetic organisms to the defined set of growth conditions, the step of exposing being performed over a period sufficient for the photosynthetic organisms to undergo multiple generational natural selection and adaptation;   harvesting photosynthetic organisms preconditioned in the exposing step; and   inoculating a photobioreactor with at least a portion of the harvested photosynthetic organisms.   
     
     
         2 . The preconditioned culture of  claim 1 , wherein the exposing act is performed utilizing an automated cell culture and testing system comprising at least one culture chamber comprising a photobioreactor having an internal volume between about 1 microliter and about 1 liter. 
     
     
         3 . The preconditioned culture of  claim 2 , wherein the automated cell culture and testing system comprises a source of artificial light capable of driving photosynthesis configured and positioned to direct light to an inner volume of the cell culture chamber; and a light source modulator that is constructed and arranged to vary the intensity of the artificial light between a first intensity to a second intensity at a frequency of at least one variation per second. 
     
     
         4 . The preconditioned culture of  claim 1 , wherein the predetermined set of growth conditions that are selected to simulate conditions to which the photosynthetic organisms will subsequently be exposed in the photobioreactor include at least one of liquid medium composition, liquid medium temperature, liquid medium temperature fluctuation magnitude, frequency, and interval, pH, light intensity, light and dark exposure intervals, feed gas composition, and/or feed gas temperature. 
     
     
         5 . The preconditioned culture of  claim 4 , wherein in the exposing act, the liquid medium comprising the at least one species of photosynthetic organisms therein is exposed to the defined set of growth conditions that comprises variation of light intensity to cause photomodulation at a light/dark cycling frequency of at least one light/dark transition per minute. 
     
     
         6 . The preconditioned culture of  claim 5 , wherein in the exposing act, the liquid medium comprising the at least one species of photosynthetic organisms therein is exposed to the defined set of growth conditions that comprises variation of light intensity to cause photomodulation at a light/dark cycling frequency of at least one light/dark transition per 30 seconds. 
     
     
         7 . The preconditioned culture of  claim 6 , wherein in the exposing act, the liquid medium comprising the at least one species of photosynthetic organisms therein is exposed to the defined set of growth conditions that comprises variation of light intensity to cause photomodulation at a light/dark cycling frequency of at least one light/dark transition per 10 seconds. 
     
     
         8 . The preconditioned culture of  claim 7 , wherein in the exposing act, the liquid medium comprising the at least one species of photosynthetic organisms therein is exposed to the defined set of growth conditions that comprises variation of light intensity to cause photomodulation at a light/dark cycling frequency of at least one light/dark transition per 5 seconds. 
     
     
         9 . The preconditioned culture of  claim 8 , wherein in the exposing act, the liquid medium comprising the at least one species of photosynthetic organisms therein is exposed to the defined set of growth conditions that comprises variation of light intensity to cause photomodulation at a light/dark cycling frequency of at least one light/dark transition per second. 
     
     
         10 . The preconditioned culture of  claim 9 , wherein in the exposing act, the liquid medium comprising the at least one species of photosynthetic organisms therein is exposed to the defined set of growth conditions that comprises variation of light intensity to cause photomodulation at a light/dark cycling frequency of at least one light/dark transition per ½ second. 
     
     
         11 . The preconditioned culture of  claim 10 , wherein in the exposing act, the liquid medium comprising the at least one species of photosynthetic organisms therein is exposed to the defined set of growth conditions that comprises variation of light intensity to cause photomodulation at a light/dark cycling frequency of at least one light/dark transition per 1/10 second. 
     
     
         12 . The preconditioned culture of  claim 11 , wherein in the exposing act, the liquid medium comprising the at least one species of photosynthetic organisms therein is exposed to the defined set of growth conditions that comprises variation of light intensity to cause photomodulation at a light/dark cycling frequency of at least one light/dark transition per 1/100 second. 
     
     
         13 . The preconditioned culture of  claim 12 , wherein in the exposing act, the liquid medium comprising the at least one species of photosynthetic organisms therein is exposed to the defined set of growth conditions that comprises variation of light intensity to cause photomodulation at a light/dark cycling frequency of at least one light/dark transition per millisecond. 
     
     
         14 . The preconditioned culture of  claim 4 , wherein in the exposing act, the liquid medium comprising the at least one species of photosynthetic organisms therein is exposed to the defined set of growth conditions that comprises exposure of the at least one species of photosynthetic organisms to a source of light capable of driving photosynthesis incident upon at least a portion of the photosynthetic organisms at an intensity at least that known to be capable of causing a reduction in the growth rate of a starter culture via photoinhibition. 
     
     
         15 . The preconditioned culture of  claim 4 , wherein in the exposing act, the liquid medium comprising the at least one species of photosynthetic organisms therein is exposed to the defined set of growth conditions that comprises exposure of the at least one species of photosynthetic organisms to a source of light capable of driving photosynthesis incident upon at least a portion of the photosynthetic organisms at an intensity at least twice that known to be capable of causing a reduction in the growth rate of an unadapted sample comprising the at least one species of photosynthetic organisms therein via photoinhibition. 
     
     
         16 . The preconditioned culture of  claim 1 , further comprising exposing the harvested photosynthetic organisms in the photobioreactor to the defined set of growth conditions. 
     
     
         17 . The preconditioned culture of  claim 1 , further comprising, before exposing the liquid medium to the defined set of growth conditions, successively exposing the liquid medium to growth conditions that increasingly approximate the defined set of growth conditions over multiple doubling times of the at least one species of photosynthetic organism. 
     
     
         18 . The preconditioned culture of  claim 17 , wherein successively exposing the liquid medium to growth conditions that increasingly approximate the defined set of growth conditions includes only varying one growth condition at a time to approximate the defined set of growth conditions. 
     
     
         19 . The preconditioned culture of  claim 1 , wherein the period exceeds five doubling times of the at least one species of photosynthetic organism. 
     
     
         20 . The preconditioned culture of  claim 1 , wherein the period exceeds 100 doubling times of the at least one species of photosynthetic organism. 
     
     
         21 . The preconditioned culture of  claim 1 , wherein the defined set of growth conditions includes a concentration of NO x . 
     
     
         22 . The preconditioned culture of  claim 1 , wherein the defined set of growth conditions includes a concentration of SO X . 
     
     
         23 . The preconditioned culture of  claim 1 , wherein the defined set of growth conditions includes a concentration of a heavy metal. 
     
     
         24 . An integrated combustion system comprising:
 a source of combustion gases;   a photobioreactor including a liquid medium comprising at least one species of photosynthetic organisms therein; and   a drier configured
 to receive and cool combustion gas from the source and provide the cooled gas to the photobioreactor, and 
 to receive wet biomass from the photobioreactor and to dry the wet biomass with heat recovered by cooling the combustion gas to produce a dried biomass. 
   
     
     
         25 . The integrated combustion system of  claim 24  wherein the source of combustion gases is configured to burn the dried biomass to produce the combustion gases. 
     
     
         26 . The integrated combustion system of  claim 24  further comprising a compressor configured to compress the combustion gases from the source and to provide the compressed combustion gases to the drier. 
     
     
         27 . The integrated combustion system of  claim 24  wherein the source of combustion gases comprises a smokestack and wherein the system further comprises a heat exchanger configured to
 receive and cool combustion gas from the source, 
 receive and heat exhaust gas from the photobioreactor, 
 provide the combustion gas to the drier, and 
 provide the exhaust gas to the smokestack. 
 
     
     
         28 . An integrated industrial biological processing system comprising:
 a photobioreactor including a liquid medium comprising at least one species of photosynthetic organisms therein;   a digester configured to produce exhaust gases and to provide the exhaust gases to the photobioreactor; and   a drier configured to receive and dry wet biomass from the photobioreactor.