Affiliation:
1. Instituto Tecnológico de Ciudad Madero
Abstract
Increasing the use of solar irradiation by the photosynthetic metabolism of green microalgae is necessary to exploit its potential as a source of lipids, carbohydrates, pigments or aromatic compounds as a source of biofuels or products of interest. Microalgae exposed to sunlight are able to adapt by synthesizing a greater amount of pigment to dissipate the incident light energy, controlling the supersaturation of cellular photosystems but reducing the efficiency of the use of light. The photoacclimation is described by the content of chlorophyll mass in relation to the carbon content in the biomass (g Chl / g C). In an outdoor photobioreactor, irradiance depends upon geographical location, time of year and atmospheric conditions. In the present proposal, the generation of biomass is established as a dynamic function of the nutrients, represented as C: N:Chl and the primary assimilation of nutrients as Nitrate (N) and Ammonium (A). The results of this research show an evolution of G: C, N: C, Chl: C and biomass as C (carbon) in different scenarios of parameterization showing consistent results.