Experimental and Numerical Parametric study of horizontal photobioreactor on the growth rate of Chlorella vulgaris microalgae

Experimental and Numerical Parametric study of horizontal photobioreactor on the growth rate of Chlorella vulgaris microalgae | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Experimental and Numerical Parametric study of horizontal photobioreactor on the growth rate of Chlorella vulgaris microalgae Sina Labbafi, Fatemeh Razi Astaraei This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6572655/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Microalgae have gained considerable attention due to their extensive application in the production of biofuels and water treatment. In this paper, the effects of three main parameters, namely the light intensity, aeration rate, and diameter of the photobioreactors (PBR), were simultaneously examined on the microalgae growth rate and energy cost of the horizontal PBR. Regarding the number of variables, the response surface method in the Design Expert software was employed to attain a deeper insight into the influence of these factors on biomass production and energy costs. The biomass and energy equations were obtained based on the numerical analysis. The highest biomass production rate (1.9 g/L per day) was attained under a light intensity of 625 µmol/s/m², photobioreactor diameter of 5 cm, and aeration rate of 0.18 L/min with the cost of 504.6 cents per day. At the optimum point, although the biomass production showed a 26.8% decline, it resulted in a 53% decrement in the energy costs. Therefore, the investigation of microalgae production at the highest efficiency and lowest costs in this research can promote the application of this useful and renewable biomass. Photobioreactor Chlorella vulgaris Microalgae biomass Growth rate Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6572655","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":453486030,"identity":"fb78b6be-60da-4c06-9498-8b5ac18bdf6e","order_by":0,"name":"Sina Labbafi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Tehran","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sina","middleName":"","lastName":"Labbafi","suffix":""},{"id":453486031,"identity":"9e5cd3d1-a41b-4380-a136-e6d6a2e4d14a","order_by":1,"name":"Fatemeh Razi Astaraei","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAuklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYJCCAyCCH8rhIV6LZAMzCVrAwOAAM5EqzduPPzzw4w9DtPGN/AMMP2oYZMwbCGiROZOQcLC3jSF3241kBsaeYww8MgcIaJFgSDhwgLcBooUByOCRIOQwCf6HDQf//GHI3TwDaMtforRIJDMc5mFjyN0AZDATZ4vEM4bDskC/zDjz2OCwzDEJYhyW/vjjG6DD+tsTHz58U2NjT1ALFPwHkwdAwTEKRsEoGAWjgAoAAJe7OYtEGMDXAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"University of Tehran","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Fatemeh","middleName":"Razi","lastName":"Astaraei","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-05-01 14:53:10","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6572655/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6572655/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":84281193,"identity":"444f6771-71e1-418a-a002-de352334dae3","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-10 06:47:22","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":745787,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6572655/v1_covered_6e552926-3b0d-4aaa-b717-c51cd76cb982.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Experimental and Numerical Parametric study of horizontal photobioreactor on the growth rate of Chlorella vulgaris microalgae","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Photobioreactor, Chlorella vulgaris, Microalgae biomass, Growth rate","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6572655/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6572655/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eMicroalgae have gained considerable attention due to their extensive application in the production of biofuels and water treatment. In this paper, the effects of three main parameters, namely the light intensity, aeration rate, and diameter of the photobioreactors (PBR), were simultaneously examined on the microalgae growth rate and energy cost of the horizontal PBR. Regarding the number of variables, the response surface method in the Design Expert software was employed to attain a deeper insight into the influence of these factors on biomass production and energy costs. The biomass and energy equations were obtained based on the numerical analysis. The highest biomass production rate (1.9 g/L per day) was attained under a light intensity of 625 \u0026micro;mol/s/m\u0026sup2;, photobioreactor diameter of 5 cm, and aeration rate of 0.18 L/min with the cost of 504.6 cents per day. At the optimum point, although the biomass production showed a 26.8% decline, it resulted in a 53% decrement in the energy costs. 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