Engineering solutions for open microalgae mass cultivation and realistic indoor simulation of outdoor environments

Microalgae could become an important renewable source for chemicals, food, and energy if process costs can be reduced. In the past 60 years, relevant factors in open outdoor mass cultivation of microalgae were identified and elaborate solutions regarding bioprocesses and bioreactors were developed. An overview of these solutions is presented. Since the cost of most microalgal products from current mass cultivation systems is still prohibitively high, further development is required. The application of complex computational techniques for cost-effective process and reactor development will become more important if experimental validation of simulation results can easily be achieved. Due to difficulties inherent to outdoor experimentation, it can be useful to conduct validation experiments indoors. Considerations and approaches for realistic indoor reproduction of the most important environmental conditions in microalgae cultivation experiments—light, temperature, and substance concentrations, are discussed.