THE APPLICATION OF PROCESS KINETICS FOR PREDICTING OPTIMUM PERFORMANCE OF CONTINUOUS BRINE SHRIMP CULTURES

Abstract

ABSTRACTLarge‐scale algal culture remains an attractive concept primarily because of the enormous potential productivity that such systems offer. However, the problem of harvesting microalgae remains a major obstacle. This paper examines the usefulness of using brine shrimp culture as a technique for harvesting microalgae and converting to protein and lipid. Specifically a mathematical model which describes brine shrimp growth and conversion efficiency is presented. The usefulness of this model is illustrated by solving for the required brine shrimp biomass needed for conversion of a constant rate of production of single‐celled marine diatoms. The model is further used to demonstrate that the most useful design of such a conversion system is that of a two‐stage system in which the first stage consists of a reactor, or reactors, of young animals operating at low algal cell removal efficiencies followed by a number of reactors of increasing age groups operating in parallel flow arrangement. This arrangement permits a high overall rate of continuous cell removal.