QIZHONG LABS

Dr. Qi Zhong started QIZHONG LABS in 2010 as a privately-held company working on scientific innovations and developing solutions to help the environment. Dr. Zhong has a Ph.D. in biochemistry and multi-year post-doctoral trainings in structural biology, cancer biology and virology. In 2009, Dr. Zhong filed a patent application on a new type of bioreactor which maximizes the gas transfer between a solution and the air. The patent results in two applications, a new bioreactor for aerobic bacterial cultures and a new photobioreactor for algal cultivation.

Our mission is to manufacture, promote and market environmentally friendly products to reduce global warming and minimize the damage caused by global warming. Our second goal is to encourage cultivation of algae at home and in offices. This would ultimately lead to a greater carbon dioxide reduction and more algal biomass for making algal biofuels, which can replace fossil fuels.

We have two products.
1. Oxygen-Enriched Microbe Cultivation Systems (OEMCS, model-650), the new bioreactors, are made of polypropylene which can withstand temperatures as high as 98 degrees Centigrade. It holds up to 600 ml of culture medium and uses 4W of electricity. The high culture efficiency comes from an enhanced oxygen transfer rate between the air and the medium. The OEMCS could cut down on its users' energy usage and carbon dioxide emission when replacing shaking flasks.

2. Alga Proliferators (AP, model-650), the new photobioreactors, are made of transparent polypropylene which can not withstand high temperatures. It holds 650 ml of medium and uses 4W of electricity. AP-650 maximizes the algae’s absorbance of carbon dioxide from the air by enhancing the gas transfer rate and enlarging the surface area of the algae. Compared to other photo-bioreactors, the AP-650 has lower energy consumption and a lower cost to operate with higher efficiency.
AP-650 is the only small photobioreactor that uses carbon dioxide from the air as the sole carbon source by dissolving carbon dioxide into the medium and is the perfect tool for conducting small-scale microalgae cultivation at home and in offices and for the biofuel industry to prepare algal cultures.