BACKGROUND ART

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a culture device.

Related Art

In recent years, algae (in particular, microalgae) that can produce a biofuel (hydrocarbon or bio-diesel), a physiologically active substance, or the like have attracted attention. Investigations have been made on extracting a fuel, a physiologically active substance, or the like from such algae, or utilizing the algae themselves for a food, a drug, a cosmetic, or the like.

In order to extract a fuel or the like from the algae, or to utilize the algae themselves for a food or the like, the algae need to be mass-cultured with a culture device. As the culture device for mass-culturing the algae, for example, in Patent Literature 1, there is a disclosure of a raceway-type culture device. The raceway-type culture device is also called an open pond-type culture device or an outdoor pond-type culture device. The raceway-type culture device is an open-system reactor in which a liquid surface of a culture solution is exposed to the atmosphere. The algae that have been cultured in the culture solution in the culture device are separated from the culture solution, and then subjected to predetermined treatment and processed into a fuel, a food, or the like.

CITATION LIST

Patent Literature

Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-239746

SUMMARY

Technical Problem

Incidentally, contamination (inclusion of germs) may occur in a culture solution during culture. In particular, the above-mentioned open-system reactor has a high probability of the inclusion of germs. Accordingly, the culture solution from which an object, such as algae, has been separated is discarded, and the culture device is supplied with a fresh culture solution. As described above, when the object is mass-cultured, there is a problem in that a large amount of the culture solution is discarded, resulting in an increase in culture cost. Therefore, there is a demand for the development of a technology capable of culturing an object at low cost.

In view of such problem, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a culture device capable of culturing an object at low cost.

Solution to Problem

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, according to one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a culture device, including: a culture tank configured to store an object liquid that is a culture solution having suspended therein an object; a screen made of a metal, the screen including a main body and a plurality of through holes passing through the main body from a front surface thereof to a back surface thereof; a spray portion configured to spray the object liquid stored in the culture tank onto the front surface of the main body; an accommodation portion surrounding the back surface of the main body and configured to accommodate the culture solution having passed through the through holes; a UV light irradiation portion arranged in the accommodation portion and configured to radiate UV light; and a return portion configured to return the culture solution in the accommodation portion to the culture tank.

In addition, the accommodation portion may have, arranged in an inner lower part thereof, a liquid storage portion configured to store the culture solution, the UV light irradiation portion may be arranged in the liquid storage portion, and the return portion may be configured to return the culture solution stored in the liquid storage portion.

In addition, the accommodation portion may have, arranged in an inner lower part thereof, a liquid storage portion configured to store the culture solution, the accommodation portion may have arranged therein a guide plate configured to guide the culture solution having passed through the through holes into the liquid storage portion, the UV light irradiation portion may be arranged on the guide plate, and the return portion may be configured to return the culture solution stored in the liquid storage portion.

In addition, the UV light irradiation portion may be arranged on the back surface of the main body.

In addition, the culture device may further include: a turbidity measurement portion configured to measure a turbidity of the culture solution having passed through the through holes; and an irradiation control portion configured to control the UV light irradiation portion on the basis of the measured turbidity.

In addition, the UV light irradiation portion may be configured to radiate UV light with power generated by a power generation device configured to generate power using sunlight as an energy source.

In addition, the culture device may further include an oxidation promoter supply portion configured to supply an oxidation promoter to the accommodation portion.

In addition, the culture solution may contain a plurality of culture components serving as substances required for culture of the object, and the culture device may further include: a plurality of storage portions configured to respectively store a plurality of component solutions containing the culture components different from each other; a concentration measurement portion configured to measure a concentration of each of the plurality of culture components contained in the culture solution in the accommodation portion; and a supply portion configured to supply the component solutions from the plurality of storage portions to the culture solution in the accommodation portion, or to the culture solution to be returned from the accommodation portion to the culture tank, on the basis of the concentration of each of the culture components.

In addition, the culture device may further include a water storage portion configured to store water, wherein the supply portion is configured to supply water from the water storage portion to the culture solution on the basis of the concentration of each of the culture components.

In addition, the plurality of storage portions may include: any one or both of a phosphoric acid storage portion configured to store a component solution containing phosphoric acid as one of the culture components, and a sulfuric acid storage portion configured to store a component solution containing sulfuric acid as one of the culture components; and any one or both of a calcium storage portion configured to store a component solution containing calcium as one of the culture components, and an iron storage portion configured to store a component solution containing iron as one of the culture components.

Effects of Disclosure

According to the present disclosure, the object can be cultured at low cost.

