Evaluation of production of Porphyridium cruentum in a bubble column photobioreactor

The work was carried out in the Laboratory of Antibodies and Experimental Biomodels (LABEX) with the objective of evaluating the cultivation system of the microalgae Porphyridium cruentum. Bubble column photobioreactor was used in the experiments to obtain biomass. This allows introducing a new product to the market with a positive impact on the National Health System. Kinetic parameters of 0,29 d-1 and 2,37 d, were reached for the specific maximum growth rate and the doubling time respectively. The system is characterized as a low volumetric productivity with 0,09 g·L-1·d-1 and cellular density of 5,2 g·L-1 of wet biomass. Gompertz and Logistic models were evaluated for biomass description. Residual Sum of Squares (RSS), Akaike's Information Criterion Test (AIC) and coefficient R-Square were used as selection criteria. Logistic model described microalgal growth under the conditions used in this research with 0,9836 R2 coefficient. (author)