Dynamic and stochastic optimization of algae cultivation process

Abstract

This study offers a realistic representation of system dynamics which accounts for light intensity, biomass, substrate, and nitrogen concentration, by employing stochastic programming techniques to account for spatial and temporal variations for algae growth. The optimization task focuses on lipid productivity and selectivity, which are crucial factors in the context of algal biofuel production. Different scenarios from likely and unlikely cases of model parameters were evaluated. Optimal initial conditions for key variables such as nitrogen, substrate, light, biomass, lipid, and surface light intensity are calculated, considering the uncertainty of the parameters as well as other governing equations. The results show that a remarkable 11.18% increase in lipid productivity compared to a reference scenario. Furthermore, in the stochastic case, our results highlight that uncertainty has a disproportionately large effect on biomass in comparison to lipid concentration, providing valuable insights into the behavior of the system under varying conditions. This provides a comprehensive exploration of the parameter uncertainty on lipid productivity and algal growth.