Novel modeling paradigm for the algal production of biofuel

Today, algae have recently received a lot of attention as a new biomass source for the production of renewable bio fuels. CO₂, a green house gas is necessary for the culturing of microalgae. The main aim of this work is to study the interaction among the various factors affecting the growth rate and lipid production of different micro alga species from CO₂ for the production of bio fuels. In this work the microalgae were modelled as independent agents. CO₂ is assumed as the source of carbon for the growth and reproduction of microalgae. Algal systems can remove CO₂ from flue gases. The effect of CO₂ concentration, light intensity and reproduction ability was modelled in NetLogo software. Lipid production rate was also modelled. A comparison of how two different species behaved with respect to these variables was done by running the model with assigned selected values for these variables. It was found that under certain conditions the two species could have a synergistic effect on each other´s growth and/or lipid production.