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. 2014 Mar 6;14(3):4466-83.
doi: 10.3390/s140304466.

An interactive tool for outdoor computer controlled cultivation of microalgae in a tubular photobioreactor system

Raquel Dormido  1 , José Sánchez  2 , Natividad Duro  3 , Sebastián Dormido-Canto  4 , María Guinaldo  5 , Sebastián Dormido  4
Affiliations

An interactive tool for outdoor computer controlled cultivation of microalgae in a tubular photobioreactor system

Raquel Dormido et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

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 the PBR geometry; (c) simulate the effects of changing different operating parameters such as the conditions of the culture (pH, biomass concentration, dissolved O2, inyected CO2, etc.); (d) simulate the PBR in its environmental context; it is possible to change the geographic location of the system or the solar irradiation profile; (e) apply different control strategies to adjust different variables such as the CO2 injection, culture circulation rate or culture temperature in order to maximize the biomass production; (f) simulate the harvesting. In this way, users can learn in an intuitive way how productivity is affected by any change in the design. It facilitates the learning of how to manipulate essential variables for microalgae growth to design an optimal PBR. The simulator has been developed with Easy Java Simulations, a freeware open-source tool developed in Java, specifically designed for the creation of interactive dynamic simulations.

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Figures

Figure A1.
Figure A1.
Schematic representation of the model.
Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Commonly employed reactor designs.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Schematic of a tubular PBR for outdoor culture.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
(a) Schema of the process. (b) Partial view of the mixing unit and the tubular loop of the PBR located in Almería (Spain).
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Graphical user interface of the PRB system.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
(a) Simulation Panel; (b) Control Panel.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
(a) Evolution of the main variables. (b) Intensity of the horizontal solar radiation in W/m2 on the PBR along the interval of days selected in the simulation.
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
Effect in the culture pH when variation in the CO2 injected flow rate occurs.
Figure 8.
Figure 8.
pH and controller signals evolution for the CO2 flow rate control using the PI time-based mode controller.
Figure 9.
Figure 9.
pH and controller signals evolution for the CO2 flow rate control using PI event-based mode.
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