Microalgae production

Microalgae can be grown batchwise in photobioreactors. In case biomass concentrations become too high the culture is diluted, and biomass is harvested, after which growth is allowed to continue again. Microalgae production systems can also be operated in a continuous manner based on a chemostat or turbidostat mode of operation. Flere these three different... 

Despite the fact that productivity of chemostat operation is similar to turbidostat operation the turbidostat is preferred especially at locations with more day-to-day variation in irradiance. Under chemostat operation biomass concentration will slowly decrease on consecutive days with cloud cover. If followed by a clear-sky day, the culture is vulnerable to photoinhibition because of its low biomass concentration. Turbidostat operation allows for a direct control of biomass concentration. Washout of a microalgae culture in a turbidostat is by definition not possible. In a chemostat this could occur in situations the dilution rate is not adjusted in time. Turbidostat operation is thus more robust and allows for rehable automation of outdoor microalgae production (Bosma et al, 2014). 

Aden FG, Fernandez JM, Magan JJ, Molina E Production cost of a real microalgae production plant and strategies to reduce it, Biotechnol Adv 30(6) 1344—1353, 2012. 

Bitog JP, Lee IB, Lee CG, et al Apphcation of computational fluid dynamics for modeling and designing photobioreactors for microalgae production a review, Comput Electron Agr 76(2) 131-147, 2011. 

ZMORA o and Richmond a (2004) Microalgae for aquaculture Microalgae production for aquaculture, in Richmond A (ed). Handbook of Micro algal Culture Biotechnology and Applied Phycology. Oxford Blackwell Science, 365-379. 

The microalgae production rate (P ) depends on the efficiency of light transmission to the microalgae (r), the efficiency of conversion of incident sunlight to... 

Voltolina, D., M. del Pilar Sanchez-Saavedra, and L. Maria Torres-Rodriguez. 2008. Outdoor Mass Microalgae Production in Bahia Kino, Sonora, NW Mexico. Aquacultural Engineering 38 (2) 93-96. 

Figure P9-20g Commercial microalgae production in open raceway paddle-wheel mixed ponds. Courtesy of Cyanotech Co., Hawaii.

Cysewski, G. R. Microalgae Production and Their Use in Animal Feeds, 2013. http //www.oceanicinstitute. org/newsevents/pdf/05CysewskiCyanotech.pdf (accessed July 24, 2015). 

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