Thousands of microalgae have been grown at small scale in the laboratory, so we know they can be grown under controlled conditions. Large-scale open ponds simply lack the ability for control. The obvious solution is a large-scale photobioreactor. Return to top of page. The global race to develop photobioreactors Photobioreactors are a brand new platform technology.
Fermentation technology exploits tens of thousands of microbe species.
Photobioreactor technology will also exploit tens of thousands of species. The combination of control and large scale is the key to success. There is a global race to develop commercial photobioreactors. Efforts outside the US have been underway in Japan, France, UK, Australia, Israel and Germany for more than a decade. These efforts have generally failed upon scale-up from laboratory to larger sizes.