A New Growth Kinetic Model for Photo-Autotrophic Microalgae Culture

Abstract

In a photo-autotrophic microalgae culture, a linear functional relation between a specific growth rate and a light energy absorption rate has been adopted. However, this relation does not always hold for a wide range of variation of a specific light-absorption rate. Therefore, in this paper we have proposed a new model for growth kinetics as follows:

μ = k(ξ – a)^(1/n)

k = α exp(–βI_o)

where μ is a specific growth rate, ξ is a specific light absorption rate and I_o is an incident light intensity, and a, n, α, β are constants. The model was verified by experimental data obtained from a Chlorella ellipsoidea photo-aututrophic culture.