Real–Time Monitoring of a Photobioreactor for Microalgae Growth Based on Microcontrollers and IoT Technology

Microalgae are photosynthetic organisms that can have a variety of applications, from energy production to the obtention of bioproducts. As other researchers have pointed out, to make the production of microalgae economically available, some technological breakthroughs are still required. The IoT technology could improve microalgae cultures by including automatic control, monitoring, and parameter identification tools. For this reason, an IoT system for monitoring microalgae that could make microalgae cultivation more efficient is presented. The prototype used an Arduino microcontroller with wireless features. Information was recorded every 20 s and sent via Wi-Fi. The IoT ThingsBoard open-source platform displayed and registered the sensor signals in real-time. Despite the inherent variability of biological systems, the time series of ORP, pH, temperature, illumination, and TDS acquired by sensing three photobioreactors were similar. Light influenced the other variables, except for TDS, which was primarily influenced by temperature.