Thomas Meurer

Microalgae have gained increasing focus as a natural resource for biofuels, aquaculture feed, nutrition complements, and cosmetics. Herein, the complex interplay of the algae metabolism with its environment represents a challenge for process control and optimization to maximize yield while minimizing production costs. The objective of this proposal is to overcome this burden by an interdisciplinary approach combining methods from process control and biological insight to develop mathematical models of microalgae growth processes which enable prediction of the culture evolution to address process design, optimal control and state estimation.