A Simple Model for Algal Photosynthesis for Better Light Utilization with Flashing Light

Abstract

Photobioreactors (PBRs) demonstrating very high bio-productivity involve a complex interaction between biomass density, light path, light intensity, and timescales of random cell movement. This work presents a new reactor model capable of simulating the effects of the above-mentioned parameters on the biomass productivity of a PBR. The work presented in this paper includes (i) development of photosynthesis model based on occupancy of charge carriers associated with the linear electron transport chain of photosystem-II, (ii) tuning and validation of the kinetics model using flashing light data reported in the literature, and (iii) reactor model development by integrating kinetics with a simple flow depiction including the effect of boundary layer thickness. For the first time, the role of the boundary layer in determining the productivity of PBRs is elucidated.