IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v15y2022i18p6535-d908981.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Model Based Optimal Control of the Photosynthetic Growth of Microalgae in a Batch Photobioreactor

Author

Listed:
  • George Adrian Ifrim

    (Faculty of Automation, Computers, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Dunarea de Jos University, Domneasca 47, 800008 Galati, Romania)

  • Mariana Titica

    (Nantes Université, CNRS, Oniris, GEPEA, UMR 6144, F-44600 Saint-Nazaire, France)

  • Georgiana Horincar

    (Faculty of Food Science and Engineering, Dunarea de Jos University, Domneasca 47, 800008 Galati, Romania)

  • Alina Antache

    (Faculty of Food Science and Engineering, Dunarea de Jos University, Domneasca 47, 800008 Galati, Romania)

  • Laurențiu Baicu

    (Faculty of Automation, Computers, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Dunarea de Jos University, Domneasca 47, 800008 Galati, Romania)

  • Marian Barbu

    (Faculty of Automation, Computers, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Dunarea de Jos University, Domneasca 47, 800008 Galati, Romania)

  • José Luis Guzmán

    (Department of Informatics, University of Almería, CIESOL-ceiA3, 04120 Almería, Spain)

Abstract

The present paper investigates the optimal control of the photosynthetic growth process in an artificial light photobioreactor operated in batch mode, the objective being to find an optimal incident light intensity for which the consumption of light energy, for any amount of newly formed biomass, is minimal. By using a simple and reliable model for the photosynthetic growth of microalgae of microalgae, predictions can be made on the quantity of produced biomass and on the amount of light consumed, whose ratio gives the biomass yield on light energy. This variable is unimodal on the allowed range of incident light intensities and has been used as objective function. An improved objective function is proposed by using the specific growth rate and a weighing factor that allows obtaining the desired amount of biomass while the light energy consumption is optimal. A closed-loop control structure has been designed based on the developed optimization algorithm. The optimal controller has been validated in simulation, comparing different lengths of the optimization horizon and the sampling period. It was found that a bigger sampling period, for the cases where there is no online information on the biomass concentration, does not significantly affect the productivity. The optimization algorithm can be used either online or offline, being useful for various experimental setups.

Suggested Citation

  • George Adrian Ifrim & Mariana Titica & Georgiana Horincar & Alina Antache & Laurențiu Baicu & Marian Barbu & José Luis Guzmán, 2022. "Model Based Optimal Control of the Photosynthetic Growth of Microalgae in a Batch Photobioreactor," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-15, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:18:p:6535-:d:908981
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/18/6535/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/18/6535/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniel Borowiak & Małgorzata Krzywonos, 2022. "Bioenergy, Biofuels, Lipids and Pigments—Research Trends in the Use of Microalgae Grown in Photobioreactors," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-48, July.
    2. Severo, Ihana Aguiar & Siqueira, Stefania Fortes & Deprá, Mariany Costa & Maroneze, Mariana Manzoni & Zepka, Leila Queiroz & Jacob-Lopes, Eduardo, 2019. "Biodiesel facilities: What can we address to make biorefineries commercially competitive?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 686-705.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rodrigo Salvador & Reinalda Blanco Pereira & Gabriel Fernandes Sales & Vanessa Campana Vergani Oliveira & Anthony Halog & Antonio C. Francisco, 2022. "Current Panorama, Practice Gaps, and Recommendations to Accelerate the Transition to a Circular Bioeconomy in Latin America and the Caribbean," Circular Economy and Sustainability,, Springer.
    2. Marcin Dębowski & Izabela Świca & Joanna Kazimierowicz & Marcin Zieliński, 2022. "Large Scale Microalgae Biofuel Technology—Development Perspectives in Light of the Barriers and Limitations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-23, December.
    3. Agata Jabłońska-Trypuć & Elżbieta Wołejko & Mahmudova Dildora Ernazarovna & Aleksandra Głowacka & Gabriela Sokołowska & Urszula Wydro, 2023. "Using Algae for Biofuel Production: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-23, February.
    4. Ong, Victor Zhenquan & Wu, Ta Yeong, 2020. "An application of ultrasonication in lignocellulosic biomass valorisation into bio-energy and bio-based products," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    5. Tamás Mizik & Gábor Gyarmati, 2021. "Economic and Sustainability of Biodiesel Production—A Systematic Literature Review," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-18, January.
    6. G. Venkatesh, 2022. "Circular Bio-economy—Paradigm for the Future: Systematic Review of Scientific Journal Publications from 2015 to 2021," Circular Economy and Sustainability,, Springer.
    7. Awasthi, Mukesh Kumar & Sarsaiya, Surendra & Patel, Anil & Juneja, Ankita & Singh, Rajendra Prasad & Yan, Binghua & Awasthi, Sanjeev Kumar & Jain, Archana & Liu, Tao & Duan, Yumin & Pandey, Ashok & Zh, 2020. "Refining biomass residues for sustainable energy and bio-products: An assessment of technology, its importance, and strategic applications in circular bio-economy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    8. Gayathri Priya Iragavarapu & Syed Shahed Imam & Omprakash Sarkar & Srinivasula Venkata Mohan & Young-Cheol Chang & Motakatla Venkateswar Reddy & Sang-Hyoun Kim & Naresh Kumar Amradi, 2023. "Bioprocessing of Waste for Renewable Chemicals and Fuels to Promote Bioeconomy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-24, May.
    9. Enas Taha Sayed & Abdul Ghani Olabi & Abdul Hai Alami & Ali Radwan & Ayman Mdallal & Ahmed Rezk & Mohammad Ali Abdelkareem, 2023. "Renewable Energy and Energy Storage Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-26, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:18:p:6535-:d:908981. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.