Chapter 76: The Oxygen Production System of the Official Shelter
"What are these?" In the central room of the police station shelter’s air circulation duct, Uncle Ding looked at the objects mounted on the racks before him, asking confusedly, "They look like glass panels?"
A technician who was debugging the equipment heard Uncle Ding’s question and, while continuing his work, explained, "These are algae cultivation tanks, technically referred to as bioreactor facades..."
After checking the condition of one bioreactor facade, the technician continued, "Indeed, in terms of material, you can call them glass panels; they’re all made of acrylic. The facades are hollow, and after filling them with a culture medium, we’ll use water and carbon dioxide to breed algae."
Observing the thousands of bioreactor facades being installed, alongside Uncle Ding, the city’s police station manager asked, "They can supply oxygen? Using these algae?"
"Yes, using these algae." The technician nodded and gently tapped one of the bioreactor facades nearby. "These algae will acquire the light energy needed for photosynthesis under sun lamps. We’ll pump carbon dioxide into them through the bottom pipes, so the algae can undergo photosynthesis inside, while the top pipes will collect the oxygen released by the algae for the shelter’s air circulation system."
"Relying on these... biowhatever facades?" Another manager spoke, with a strong sense of doubt and distrust, "Can these things really support the oxygen needs of this shelter’s twenty thousand people?"
As this manager spoke, the expressions on the faces of the city’s police station managers were all the same.
It wasn’t that these managers feigned understanding or looked down on the technicians, but simply relying on the few thousand glass panels installed here to supply the entire shelter’s oxygen needs indeed raised doubts about its feasibility.
"These bioreactor facades employ microalgae bioreactor oxygen production technology. The Germans once conducted a similar technical experiment, constructing a residential building with exterior walls made from this type of bioreactor. The biomass produced from such a bio-residence, after reactions, provided enough thermal and electrical energy to meet the needs of three surrounding residences." The technician was not surprised and continued to explain to the city police station managers.