Technology

Photo BioReactor Overview

Ternion Bio Industries has developed a state-of-the-art reactor. Our Photo BioReactor system's unique design draws the best from our own research combined with the best from the industry. In developing our Photo BioReactor system, we examined the problems that other algae companies faced when trying to scale, then adopted a modular approach that overcomes these scalability issues.

The inner workings of the Photo BioReactor – i.e., the algae and their growing environment – are contained in smaller BioBlade™ units that slide into the Photo BioReactor structure, like computer server blades into a chassis.

The second-generation Photo BioReactor system uses more than 700 gallons of treated water per BioBlade unit. Each BioBlade unit operates independently from the entire BioBloc™ reactor, while supporting the entire system as well. The design also incorporates several technology paradigms from the fields of electronic failure test analysis industry, computer redundancy, and large-scale agriculture.

Carbon dioxide emissions are pumped into the “backplane” of the Photo Bioreactor and fed to the algae colonies via pipes. The backplane also contains wiring for the automated control systems as well as additional pipes, which control water levels inside the BioBlade units and allow for harvesting of the algae.

The right amount of sunlight reaches all the algae in the Photo BioReactor system thanks to Ternion Bio's ingenious design using solar tubes, mirrors and high-powered LEDs.

Ternion Bio designed the Photo BioReactor system to operate entirely off-grid, using solar power to generate electricity needed for operating the control systems. In addition, we are experimenting with incorporating mini-hydroelectric generators into our Photo BioReactor design, especially the systems that are two or three units tall. Falling water within the Photo BioReactor could be used to spin turbines that provide additional electricity to power operations.