Photobioreactors simulation is currently the subject of scientific research in many countries due to interest in biofuel production. One challenge in the assessment of photobioreactors behavior is the lack of information about algae growth properties. In this paper, a dimensionless mathematical model is introduced for assessing the transient microalgae growth, O2, CO2 concentrations and tempera...

Background: Mixing in traditional algae culture system consumes intensive electricity. This should be replaced by nature force to reduce energy cost and, more importantly, to realize positive energy balance of algal biofuel production. This study aims to develop a horizontal photobioreactor, in which mixing can be provided with rocking movement driven by nature force. Results: Simple boxes were...

Microalgae are a promising source of biofuels and bioproducts, as they consume CO2 to grow, multiply quickly, and can be cultivated in wastewater and on marginal land. Development of low-cost and high-efficiency microalgal cultivation systems is important to the cost-competitiveness of algae. A floating horizontal photobioreactor (HBR) was developed that is inexpensive and scalable, as it is ma...

This work presents the application of an event-based model predictive control algorithm to regulate the pH in a microalgae production process. The control aim is to maintain the pH within specific limits and to minimize CO2 losses. The control scheme is based on a Generalized Predictive Control (GPC) algorithm with sensor deadband approach. In this algorithm, the controller execution frequency ...

This study investigates the scaling of photobioreactor productivity based on the growth of Nannochloropsis salina incorporating the effects of direct and diffuse light. The scaling and optimization of photobioreactor geometry was analyzed by determining the growth response of a small-scale system designed to represent a core sample of a large-scale photobioreactor. The small-scale test apparatu...

Oleaginous microalgae are seen as a potential major biofuel producer in the future since, under conditions of nitrogen deprivation, they can contain high amounts of lipids, while they consume CO2 from power plants. These photosynthetic microorganisms are however rather different from the microorganisms usually used in biotechnology. In particular, predicting the behaviour of microalgal based pr...

The objective of this study was to investigate the growth rate of Chlorella vulgaris for CO2 biofixation and biomass production. Six mathematical growth models (Logistic, Gompertz, modified Gompertz, Baranyi, Morgan and Richards) were used to evaluate the biomass productivity in continuous processes and to predict the following parameters of cell growth: lag phase duration (λ), maximum specific...

This paper describes an interactive virtual laboratory for experimenting with an outdoor tubular photobioreactor (henceforth PBR for short). This virtual laboratory it makes possible to: (a) accurately reproduce the structure of a real plant (the PBR designed and built by the Department of Chemical Engineering of the University of Almería, Spain); (b) simulate a generic tubular PBR by changing ...