Studies on the production of Spirulina platensis biomass through outdoor culture in tubular photobioreactor

A comparative investigation on the performance of two photobioreactors built with tubes of different diameters (74 and 13.1 cm i.d.) showed that the yield of Spirulina biomass was not significantly influenced by the dimension of the culture tubes. The crude protein content of the biomass was the same (about 64%) but it was less constant in the culture grown inside the photobioreactor made with tubes of small diameter. This photobioreactor required a more strict control of temperature and O2 to avoid damage of the cultures.