Meteorological Parameter for Estimate the Growth of Polyculture Microalgae to Produce Biofuel in Open Raceway Pond: Case Study Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan

Abstract

Cultivation microalgae in open raceway pond to produce biofuel is popular in last decade. Algae Biomass research and development (ABES), the University of Tsukuba cultivating polyculture (native) microalgae in Minamisoma, Prefecture, Japan to produce biofuel. The native polyculture microalgae were used to maintain the stability of the ecosystem and adapt to temperature fluctuation. The availability of meteorological information (temperature) is potential to estimate the microalgae growth. In this research, we proposed the polynomial model to predict the productivity of microalgae (g/m2/day) with the depth of culture were 0.3 meters. The result of this study indicated that the meteorological parameter (air temperature) success to estimate the microalgae growth.