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Prediction of concentration for microalgae using image analysis

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Abstract

Maintaining the optimum growth rate and estimating the concentration of microalgae are critical in improving microalgae production. An efficient concentration assessment of microalgae is essential for a timely and effective determination of the harvest period. This study proposes the luminance and viscosity methods to predict the concentration of microalgae. Image analysis was applied to measure the concentration of native microalgae: Desmodesmus sp., Scenedesmus sp., Dictyosphaerium sp., and Klebsormidium sp. The experiments were performed using different concentrations of the dry cell weight (DCW) of these microalgae species. A dual-camera device was used to capture the images of the DCW solution in a flask. For the confirmation of viscosity, a viscometer was used to determine the concentration of microalgae. A comparative analysis was performed between the data from the image analysis and viscosity method. The results from the viscosity method showed a higher accuracy with R2 = 0.9784 and the luminance method with R2 = 0.8266. Further investigations revealed that the brightness of the DCW image had a limitation at a specific concentration where the color was unrecognized. The current image processing method has the potential to be applied in an outdoor cultivation facility for real-time data acquisition. Both methods have advantages in terms of required time and experimental costs. The image analysis method provides an alternative way to efficiently monitor the cultivation and harvesting of microalgae.

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Abbreviations

DCW:

Dry cell weight

GS:

Grayscale

HTL:

Hydrothermal liquefaction

LGS:

Luminance grayscale

MP:

Megapixels

ORP:

Open raceway pond

PBR:

Photobioreactor

RGB:

Red, green, and blue

ROI:

Region of interest

B :

Blue color (px)

b :

Normalized blue color (px)

C linear :

Linear intensity value of RGB

C rgb :

Nonlinear value of RGB

DCW :

Dry cell weight (%)

G :

Green color (px)

g :

Normalized green color (px)

R :

Red color (px)

r :

Normalized red color (px)

R 2 :

Coefficient of determination (-)

T :

Temperature (°C)

v :

Kinematic viscosity (mm2/s)

ρ :

Density (kg/m3)

ϒ :

Luminance (px)

μ :

Basic viscosity (mPa·s)

ϑ :

Dynamic viscosity (mPa·s)

f :

Color channel pixel value

x :

Color channel pixel value coordinates

y :

Color channel pixel value coordinates

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Algae Biomass and Energy System (ABES) R&D Center, University of Tsukuba, Japan. The authors would like to acknowledge the Ministry of Education and Culture, Japan for the MEXT Scholarship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8572, Japan

    Haikal Nando Winata

  2. Institute Technology of Medan (ITM), Jalan Gedung Arca 52, Teladan, Medan, 20217, Indonesia

    Haikal Nando Winata

  3. Indonesian Oil Palm Research Institute (IOPRI), Jalan Brigjend Katamso 51, Kp. Baru, P.O. Box 1103, Medan, 20158, Indonesia

    Muhammad Ansori Nasution

  4. Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8572, Japan

    Tofael Ahamed & Ryozo Noguchi

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  1. Haikal Nando Winata
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  4. Ryozo Noguchi
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Correspondence to Ryozo Noguchi.

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Winata, H.N., Nasution, M.A., Ahamed, T. et al. Prediction of concentration for microalgae using image analysis. Multimed Tools Appl 80, 8541–8561 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-020-10052-y

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