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Photobioreactors for the production of microalgae

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Abstract

Microalgae are produced today for human and animal markets, as food-feed and source of active compounds. Microalgae can be also used in wastewater treatment and they has been proposed as biofuels source to reduce global warming problem. Whatever the final application of microalgae its production is based on the same principles as light availability, enough mass and heat transfer and adequate control of culture parameters. In this paper these principals are revised. Moreover, the production must be carried out at adequate scale using photobioreactors. Design of photobioreactor is determined by the final use of biomass and quality required. Different designs today used are revised, including last designs proposed, identifying his characteristics parameters and applications. In addition, the obligation of adequate control strategies is discussed. Finally, the bottlenecks for the scale-up of the different technologies and thus of microalgae production are summarized.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by EnerBioAlgae (SOE2/P2/E374) SUDOE INTERREG IVB, National Plan Project DPI2011-27818-C02-01 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation; as well as by FEDER funds, PlanE supported by CDTI and CENITVIDA in collaboration with AlgaEnergy. Also acknowledgements to Fundación CAJAMAR, and Junta de Andalucía, Plan Andaluz de Investigación (CVI 131 &173).

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  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Almería, 04071, Almería, Spain

    F. G. Acién Fernández, J. M. Fernández Sevilla & E. Molina Grima

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Almería, Cañada San Urbano, 04120, Almería, Spain

    F. G. Acién Fernández, J. M. Fernández Sevilla & E. Molina Grima

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Correspondence to F. G. Acién Fernández.

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Acién Fernández, F.G., Fernández Sevilla, J.M. & Molina Grima, E. Photobioreactors for the production of microalgae. Rev Environ Sci Biotechnol 12, 131–151 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11157-012-9307-6

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