Photobioreactors: light regime, mass transfer, and scaleup

Design and scaleup of tubular photobioreactors are discussed for outdoor cu lture of microalgae. Culture productivity is invariably controlled by avail ability of light, particularly as the scale of operation increases. Thus, l ight regime analysis is emphasized with details of a methodology for comput ation of the internal culture illumination levels in outdoor systems. Suppl y of carbon dioxide is discussed as another important feature of algal cult ure. Finally, potential scaleup approaches are outlined including promising novel concepts based on fundamentals of the unavoidable light-dark cycling of the culture. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.