What can a microorganism be used for industrially? How fast do microalgae, cyanobacteria, bacteria or fungi grow? Which conditions are optimal for a biomass production? For something that the microbe produce? Or for water remediation? How can the production of a substance be balanced against the growth of the microbe? It is not always the case that the fastest growth gives the fastest substance production. It can be gas or a substance dissolved in the growth medium. With a bioreactor you can study such details. You adjust the supply of nutrients and gas, pH and temperature. For phototrophic organisms you can also adjust the light. Then you use a specific photobioreactor to simulate different cultivation conditions at industrial scale.
Industridoktorn has one large and many small photobioreactors that can be controlled in great detail. For example, we can simulate the light during different seasons all of the world. We have 15 years of experience with microalgae cultivation at lab- and pilot scale.
In addition to using bioreactors, we also grow different kinds of microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, algae) in traditional flasks and petri dishes, both aerobically and anaerobically. We also help to solve and prevent problems with surface growth and contamination. Likewise we investigate what kind of growth it is. The setup is always adapted to type of question, microbe and possible application of interest.
Contact Susanne Ekendahl if you are interested in projects with cultivation tests.