Microalgal Production Systems with Highlights of Bioenergy Production

The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of the main sys- tems of microalgae production with highlights of biofuel production. The large-scale production systems (raceway ponds, horizontal tubular photobioreac- tors, and heterotrophic bioreactors) and small-scale photobioreactors (vertical and flat-plate photobioreactors) will be presented and discussed with a special emphasis on the main factors affecting its efficiency, biomass productivities reported in the literature, scaling-up, costs of construction and operation, and commercial appli- cations. Besides this, the recent developments in microalgae cultivation systems will be reviewed in their main aspects. Finally, the criteria for selecting an appropriate bioreactor for microalgae cultivation will be presented, as well as the pros and cons of each system will be discussed in this chapter.