Since our arrival in Ghana in November, we have been working at Chalé Spirulina in Kumasi for four weeks now. Our project involves designing an improved shade net system to be installed above the spirulina bioreactors. This is crucial for regulating the amount of sunlight the spirulina is exposed to. The microalgae are vulnerable to excessive sunlight exposure and might die, but in low light, they can't grow sufficiently.
The current shade net system is difficult to operate, and it takes too long to open or close all the different nets in the event of a sudden change in the weather. During the preparatory phase of our project in the Netherlands, we worked on designing a prototype for this. Now, in Ghana, we are working on the construction and testing phase.
After looking for and finding all the components from Ghanaian markets, our first version of the prototype has finally been built. This system allows all nets, stretched over a length of 50 meters, to be retracted simultaneously using a roll-in/roll-out mechanism.
Although our system works and the nets can be opened and closed, we are still encountering a few problems. For example, it's not possible to fully open and close the nets, and the operation of it is proving to be harder labour than we anticipated. This first prototype is certainly not perfect yet, and we will be working hard in the coming weeks to improve the identified bottlenecks. This includes optimizing aspects such as net size, pulley operation, and steel cable thickness. Our project remains an ongoing process from which we are learning a lot!
