Study on the pH Changes of Microalgae (Tetraselmis Chuii) Cultivated in Newly Developed Closed Photobioreactor using Natural Sunlight and Artificial Light

Microalgae are one of the most dependable source of renewable energy but high land requirement to build raceway pond for microalgae mass culture has been one of the major setback which limits the exploitation of microalgae. In order to overcome the problem, a modified design of photobioreactor was developed which enable efficient light distribution inside the photobioreactor and can fully optimize the space when scaled up. This study was conducted to determine the effect of sunlight and artificial light on the pH level of T.chuii cultivated in closed system photobioreactor. T.chuii cultivated using artificial light shows higher pH value on 3 rd and 15 th day which is 8.73 and 8.76 compared to T.chuii cultivated using sunlight (on 3 rd day – highest pH value 8.69 and on 15 th day – highest pH value 8.50). The result suggests T.chuii cultivated in photobioreactor using artificial light receives consistent light to undergo photosynthesis process compared to T.chuii cultivated using sunlight. Keywords: Microalgae ; Renewable energy; pH ; Photosynthesis; Light