STUDY AND FABRICATION OF PORTABLE ABSORBANCE MEASUREMENT DEVICE FOR MICROALGAE SOLUTION BASED ON TCS3200 COLOR SENSOR
Abstract
Because of many applications and priorities in industry, microalgae culture is growing in number and scale; therefore, a small, fast and low-cost device for measuring algal concentrations is required. In this study, a portable and low-cost absorption device of microalgae Chaetoceros gracilis was researched and fabricated based on the color sensor TCS3200; the optical source was a monochrome LED. The technology of fast patent based on 3D printing was applied in the design of the measuring chamber and the finishing of product. The system was evaluated and compared with the UV-viss spectrometer. The results showed that the absorption of the microalgae Chaetoceros gracilis solution linearly depended on its concentration in the range from 0 to 3.80 Megacell/mL. The experiment results showed that the red-LED with a wavelength of 660 nm was suitable to evaluate the concentration of microalgae Chaetoceros gracilis using the absorbance measurement method. The sensitivity of the fabricated device was estimated to be 0.130 (Megacell/ mL)-1, and its limit of detection (LOD) was calculated to be 0.226 (Megacell/ ml) with good linearity (R2 = 0.9985). The total cost of the complete device is about 50$. This fabricated absorption device is compact, low cost, and displays results quickly. Hence, this device is potential to apply in the concentration measurement microalgae in actual and then develop into an online and real-time measurement system in the future.