Open Pond Growth

Realistically, open ponds will be necessary for growing algae at the cost and scale necessary to compete with cheap commodities like fuel and animal feed. However, they come with a profound set of unique challenges - both biological and abiotic. Fortunately, progress is being made on these fronts due to the availability of functional commercial and academic pilot-scale open pond facilities. 

---

Seambiotic Agreement with NASA Glenn Research Center to develop an on-going collaborative R D program for optimization of open-pond microalgae growth processes. 

There is the possibility that in a photobioreactor system, the oil and algae water may become an emulsion-type mixture and cause further separation problems. In an open pond system, a thick layer of oil may prevent the light penetrating to the algae and inhibit the algal growth. 

The open pond is an effective reactor for algae growth. Simulation can be used to find the optimal operating conditions, and the traditional raceway pond design could be improved to raise the production rate and lower the cost [7]. 

Open recirculating systems These are more amenable to inhibition since it is possible to maintain a closer control on water composition. Corrosion inhibition in these systems is closely allied to a number of other problems that have to be considered in the application of water treatment. Most of these arise from the use of cooling towers, ponds, etc. in which the water is subject to constant evaporation and contamination leading to accumulation of dirt, insoluble matter, aggressive ions and bacterial growths, and to variations in pH. A successful water treatment must therefore take all these factors into account and inhibition will often be accompanied by scale prevention and bactericidal treatments. 

Algae can be cultivated via an open system (as with natural growth) or a closed system. Raceway ponds are the most commonly used open system for growing algae, while PBRs are a popular closed system for algae cultivation [2,34,37,38]. 

---