The customer defined the problem statement in the project proposal as:

“The UFPR-FSU senior design teams have worked in the past with photobioreactors that work in batches.  Growth media is added initially to microalgae to be grown in the photobioreactor for a period of approximately 15 days.  At the end of that period the biomass is extracted and a new batch starts.

We anticipate enhance biomass productivity by using a continuous growth system (as opposed to batch) in which biomass is continuously extracted as new cells grow attempting to maintain a nearly constant ideal cell concentration within the photobioreactor. Media (nutrients and water) will need to be added in the necessary amounts to make up for the extractions.

The implementation of a continuous system, requires at least: (i) a concentration sensor, (ii) an automatic unit of media supply, and (iii) a biomass extraction unit. The concentration sensor was partially developed by the 2012-2013 team (see link under background), and it will be further enhanced as part of a master thesis.  What you are asked to design is the units (ii) and (iii), and amend the previously developed concentration sensor (i).”

Thus, the customer needs a way to transform the photobioreactors’ current “batch” growth systems into “continuous growth systems.” In order to achieve this, the customer is requesting the design or development of an “automatic unit of media supply” and a “biomass extraction unit”, as well as an improvement to the “previously developed concentration sensor.”