First Principles Model of a Tubular Photobioreactor for Microalgal Production
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This paper outlines and extends a dynamic model for microalgal production in outdoor tubular photobioreactors. A first principle based model, which takes into account both spatial and temporal gradients for the main culture variables, is presented. A previous model has been refined and extended in order to represent the main distributed phenomena, incorporating the dynamic effects related to culture temperature. Thereby, calibration and validation tests have been performed in an outdoor industrial tubular photobioreactor, showing successful results. The developed model considers both fluid dynamics and biological phenomena. This work summarizes the required steps to obtain a biological model from knowledge acquired in previous works. Finally, in view of the obtained results, conclusions about the limitations of the developed model are drawn, as well as its main uses and applications, describing a simulation example which proves how a simple control of culture conditions, such as temperature and pH, allows obtaining a higher biomass production rate.
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The situation can be different in tubular photobioreactors, where thermal energy accumulates in flow direction, or in open systems with large dimensions.
“The situation can be different in tubular photobioreactors, where thermal energy accumulates in flow direction [121], or in open systems with large dimensions [59].”
From Modeling and Simulation of Photobioreactors with Computational Fluid Dynamics—A Comprehensive Review (2022) · cites this paper as [121]
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- Authors
- Fernández, I., Acién, F. G., Berenguel, M., & Guzmán, J. L.
- Affiliations
- University of Almería (ES)
- Department of Informatics, CIESOL, and ‡Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Almería, International Excellence Campus ceiA3, E04120 Almería, Spain
- Corresponding author
- Fernández, Ignacio
- Acién, F. Gabriel
- Berenguel, Manuel
- Venue
- Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2014-06-24
- Volume
- 53
- Issue
- 27
- Pages
- 11121-11136
- ISSN
- 0888-5885 (ISSN-L)
- 1520-5045
- OpenAlex
- W2324148510
- Cited by
- 57
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 2 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 6
- FWCI
- 1.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial
- Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad
- Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
- European Regional Development Fund
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Algal biology and biofuel production
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Fluid Dynamics and Mixing
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Aquatic Ecosystems and Phytoplankton Dynamics
- Keywords
- tubular photobioreactor, microalgae cultivation, first-principles modeling, distributed parameter model, temperature effects, fluid dynamics, biomass production, pH control, model calibration and validation
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