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Updated: Mar 15, 2026
Microalgae Cultivation and Biomass Quantification in a Bench-Scale Photobioreactor with Corrosive Flue Gases
Published on: December 19, 2019
Maximizing the productivity of the microalgae Scenedesmus AMDD cultivated in a continuous photobioreactor using an
Patrick J McGinn1, Scott P MacQuarrie1, Jerome Choi2
1Aquatic and Crop Resource Development Portfolio, National Research Council of Canada, 1411 Oxford St., Halifax, NS, B3H 3Z1, Canada.
Abstract:
In this study, production of the microalga Scenedesmus AMDD in a 300 L continuous flow photobioreactor was maximized using an online flow (dilution rate) control algorithm. To enable online control, biomass concentration was estimated in real time by measuring chlorophyll-related culture fluorescence. A simple microalgae growth model was developed and used to solve the optimization problem aimed at maximizing the photobioreactor productivity. When optimally controlled, Scenedesmus AMDD culture demonstrated an average volumetric biomass productivity of 0.11 g L-1 d-1 over a 25 day cultivation period, equivalent to a 70 % performance improvement compared to the same photobioreactor operated as a turbidostat. The proposed approach for optimizing photobioreactor flow can be adapted to a broad range of microalgae cultivation systems.
