Flashing light does not improve photosynthetic performance and growth of green microalgae
Open accessAbstract
Light attenuation in photobioreactors is a major bottleneck in microalgal production. A possible strategy for artificial light-based microalgal production to deliver light deep inside the culture is through the periodical emission of high intensity light flashes (so-called flashing light). However, our results did not show improved photosynthetic rates compared to continuous light for dilute and concentrated Tetraselmis chui cultures exposed to flashing light with various repetition rates (frequencies 0.01 Hz–1 MHz), light-dark ratios (duty cycles: 0.001–0.7) or time-averaged light intensity (50–1000 μmol s−1 m−2). Likewise, flashing light applied to Chlorella stigmatophora and T. chui batch cultures could not enhance growth. However, we observed flashing light effects at different duty cycles and frequencies, depending on cell acclimation, culture concentration, and light intensity. In conclusion, artificial flashing light does not improve microalgal biomass productivities in photobioreactors, but low frequencies (f < 50 Hz) may be still used to improve light harvesting-associated biomolecules production.
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The practical relevance of the flashing-light effect is still under discussion.
“Even though many researchers investigated this 'flashing-light effect' [26,95,98-100], its practical relevance is still under discussion [26,101,102].”
From Modeling and Simulation of Photobioreactors with Computational Fluid Dynamics—A Comprehensive Review (2022) · cites this paper as [101]
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References 54 · Cited by 56
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Geada, P., Vasconcelos, V., Vicente, A., Fernandes, B., 2017. Microalgal biomass culti- vation. In: Algal Green Chemistry. Elsevier, pp. 257-284.
- Authors
- Schulze, P. S. C., Brindley, C., Fernández, J. M., Rautenberger, R., Pereira, H., Wijffels, R. H., & Kiron, V.
- Affiliations
- Nord University (NO)
- University of Almería (ES)
- Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NO)
- Centro de Ciências do Mar do Algarve (PT)
- Corresponding author
- Schulze, Peter S.C.
- Kiron, Viswanath
- ORCID
- Venue
- Bioresource Technology Reports
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-02
- Volume
- 9
- Pages
- 100367
- ISSN
- 2589-014X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2997059123
- Cited by
- 56
- References
- 54
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 6
- FWCI
- 1.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Bioresource Technology Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Repositorio de Patentes de la Universidad de Almería (Universidad de Almería) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Nord universitet
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Algal biology and biofuel production
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Light effects on plants
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms
- Keywords
- flashing lights, microalgae, Tetraselmis chui, photosynthetic performance, photobioreactors, light attenuation, duty cycle, light frequency, microalgae growth, biomass productivity
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