A semi-mechanistic model describing the influence of light and temperature on the respiration and photosynthetic growth of Chlorella vulgaris.

The influence of light and temperature on microalgae kinetics has been assessed extensively and many models have been developed. However, limited attention has been paid to the influence of light and temperature on microalgae respiration and growth under conditions inducing (strong) photoinhibition and no clear consensus has been made on which model to use. Based on experimental data collected using a combined respirometer-titrimeter, a previously developed microalgae model (Decostere et al., 2016b) was first extended with a respiration process (r = rmin + δ μ). It was found that the dark respiration (rmin) was depending on both light and temperature and increased at conditions inducing photoinhibition and heat stress. Furthermore, out of five models describing the influence of light and temperature on the microalgae growth rate, the model of Dermoun et al. (1992) was determined to be the best suited model.