Modeling microalgae growth in continuous culture: Parameters analysis and temperature dependence

Microalgae are considered to be a promising biofuel resource for carbon dioxide fixation in the future. Modeling the growth of microalgae is an effective method to study the growth performance of microalgae, which is also helpful to control the cultivation of microalgae in artificial bioreactor. In continuous culture, dilution rate and influent inorganic nitrogen concentration have shown significant effects on the growth of microalgae. In this paper, the common and overall influences of dilution rate and influent inorganic nitrogen concentration on the microalgae growth have been investigated. Based on numerical simulation, this paper plots the results of total and unit time particulate carbon concentration in 3D figures to expose the varied tendency. It is found that the value of points on the ridge line increases with the dilution rate decreasing and influent inorganic nitrogen concentration increasing for both the total particulate carbon concentration and the particulate carbon concentration per day. The influence of several typical temperatures has been modeled and calculated. The value of biomass productivity will be further increased when the dilution rate is getting closer to 0. This paper will go a step further for the parameters design of continuous culture photo-bioreactor (PBR) for later study. •The common influences of dilution rate and influent nitrogen was investigated.•The results of total and unit time carbon concentration were plotted in 3D figure.•The value of points on the ridge line was calculated and analyzed.•The results of several typical temperatures was calculated and plotted.