Fig. 5
Comparison of experimental and simulation results of cyanobacterial growth rates in shake flasks. Diamond markers represent cultures with different volumes under the same light intensity of ~50 μE/m2/s. The volumes are 50, 100, and 150 mL, respectively, corresponding to diamond markers from top to bottom. Circle markers represent 15 mL cultures growing under different light conditions. The light intensities are ~15, ~25 and ~35 μE/m2/s, respectively, corresponding to circle markers from top to bottom. The specific growth rates were calculated based on OD730 values in the early exponential growth phase. The square marker represents a reported cyanobacterial growth rate in a mini-PBR [27]. The parameters used for simulating cyanobacterial growth are given in Additional file 2: Table S1