Developing staggered woven mesh aerator with three variable-micropore layers in recycling water pipeline to enhance CO 2 conversion for improving Arthrospira growth.

A staggered woven mesh (SWM) aerator equipped with three variable-micropore layers was developed to enhance the CO ₂ conversion into HCO ₃ ^- in a recycling water pipeline for promoting CO ₂ utilization efficiency and Arthrospira growth in large-scale raceway ponds. The input CO ₂ gas was broken into smaller bubbles (0.78- 2.43 mm) through the first-stage shear with axial rectangles, second-stage shear with radial rectangles (equivalent pore diameter = 150 μm), and third-stage shear with uniform micropores. A high-speed camera (MotionXtra HG-100K CMOS) and an Image J image processing software were employed to capture the bubble pictures. Compared to the traditional steel pipe (TSP) aerator, the bubble generation diameter and time in the SWM aerator reduced by 72.3% and 48.6%, respectively. The optimized structure (ε = 14, pore = 23 μm) of the SWM aerator promoted the carbonization efficiency and HCO ₃ ^- conversion efficiency into biomass by 78.6% and 64.6% than the TSP aerator. Further, the chlorophyll fluorescence and biomass measurements showed an increase in the actual photochemical efficiency (analyzed by Hansatech FMS1 chlorophyll fluorescence instrument) and biomass yield by 1.8 times and 80.1%.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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