Modeling microalgae cell mass distributions using the Fokker–Planck equation

Abstract

The modeling of the cell mass distribution for microalgae growth processes is addressed using the Fokker–Planck equation for a stochastic logistic growth model of a single cell. Relations between the proposed model and the classical Droop model used for mass– balance based modeling of the algae growth are established. The proposed model is evaluated using experimentally obtained cell mass distribution data for the microalgae Chlamydomonas reinhardtti showing a good correspondence between measurements and model predictions. The obtained model is considerably simpler in comparison to cell mass population balance models used so far to describe the temporal behavior of the cell mass distribution.