CO₂ Dosing Optimization
CO₂ enrichment that maximizes photosynthesis—without wasting gas or risking crop stress.
Sera tracks real-time CO₂ drawdown, PAR levels, VPD, transpiration, ventilation rates, and energy costs to explain utilization efficiency and recommend precise dosing windows, concentrations, and cutoffs—ensuring higher light-use efficiency, faster biomass accumulation, and better fruit fill while minimizing ppm overshoot and unnecessary expenditure.
The challenge
CO₂ enrichment is one of the highest-ROI levers in modern greenhouses for tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and other C3 crops—often boosting yields 10–30% when optimized—but poor control wastes money and can backfire:
Inefficient dosing during low PAR: Injecting above ambient (e.g., 800–1200 ppm) when light is <300 µmol/m²/s yields minimal photosynthetic gain due to light limitation, burning gas for negligible benefit.
Overshoot and stratification: Fixed high-setpoint dosing without accounting for ventilation, wind, or crop uptake leads to peaks >1500 ppm (risking stomatal closure, leaf burn, or uneven distribution) while pockets stay near ambient.
Ventilation conflicts: Opening vents to manage RH or temperature dumps injected CO₂—wasting enrichment dollars and causing transient drops that stall assimilation during peak light hours.
Energy-CO₂ trade-offs: High dosing requires tight vents and higher heating/dehumidification load, spiking energy costs during price peaks or cold periods—without clear visibility into net ROI.
Uptake variability: Crop demand changes hourly with PAR, temperature, VPD, and leaf area; static recipes or simple light-sum triggers miss these dynamics, leading to under-enrichment during high-demand windows or over-enrichment during low-demand.
Hard-to-measure efficiency: Growers lack real-time insight into actual assimilation rates, drawdown speed, or ppm-per-unit-PAR—making it difficult to benchmark cycles, varieties, or sites and justify investment.
Without dynamic, demand-aware reasoning, CO₂ becomes an expensive guess rather than a precision tool—limiting yield potential while inflating OpEx.
How Sera helps
Sera ingests CO₂ sensors (multiple heights/zones), PAR meters, climate computer dosing logs, ventilation commands, energy meters, weather data, and your uploaded enrichment protocols (variety-specific targets, cutoffs, energy rules). It reasons continuously over photosynthetic demand, gas utilization, stratification risks, and cost dynamics to deliver plain-English efficiency insights, risk flags, and tailored dosing recommendations.
Daily CO₂ performance brief delivered automatically
Morning/weekly push: Natural-language summary of utilization and optimization levers.
"Yesterday CO₂ utilization: 78% of injected ppm assimilated during 09:00–15:00 high-PAR window (avg 950 ppm, PAR >800 µmol/m²/s). 22% lost to ventilation overrides and stratification in Zone 3. Impact: Estimated assimilation +12% vs. ambient; gas cost +€[placeholder]/ha from overshoot. Recommendation: Tighten vent minimum during dosing window and lower setpoint to 1000 ppm if PAR >1000 µmol/m²/s per your protocol."
Highlights: Low PAR dosing waste, ventilation losses, stratification patterns, or missed high-demand opportunities.
Light-based dosing recommendations
CO₂ enrichment only drives photosynthesis when light is available. Sera correlates your dosing schedule with actual solar radiation to identify waste.
"CO₂ dosing continued for 45 minutes after light levels dropped below photosynthetic threshold."
"Current radiation levels support increased enrichment. CO₂ concentration is 200 ppm below optimal for this light intensity."
Cost-benefit analysis
Understand the economic efficiency of your enrichment strategy.
"Compare CO₂ consumption per kg of yield between Blocks 1 and 3."
"What was our CO₂ utilization efficiency during last week's high-light period?"
Instant diagnostics and dosing guidance via chat
Ask for precise, context-aware answers aligned with your strategy:
"Why was CO₂ drawdown slow this morning in Block 2?" → "Drawdown rate only 120 ppm/h vs. expected 180–220 ppm/h at current PAR (1050 µmol/m²/s) and leaf area. Cause: Ventilation opened 8% for RH control, diluting injected CO₂. Impact: Assimilation reduced ~15–18% during peak hour. Suggestion: Increase dosing rate 20% and suppress vent opening below 1200 ppm unless RH >82% per your high-light protocol."
"Optimize CO₂ for tomorrow with current energy forecast." → "Forecast high PAR 10:00–16:00, moderate wind. Energy price peak 18:00+. Current protocol allows 1000–1200 ppm. Recommendation: Dose aggressively 09:30–16:30 (target 1100 ppm) with vent minimum 5%; cut off at 16:45 or PAR <500. Projected: +14–17% assimilation gain vs. ambient; gas cost +€[placeholder]/ha but ROI positive at current yield value. Avoid evening dosing to minimize load."
"Compare CO₂ utilization efficiency this cycle vs. last at same truss stage."
Proactive inefficiency and risk detection
Spots patterns simple setpoints miss:
Low assimilation during high dosing (light/VPD limitation).
Stratification gradients (>150 ppm height difference).
Ventilation-triggered losses during enrichment windows.
Applies your rules to balance ROI and safety:
"Suppress dosing if PAR <350 µmol/m²/s or VPD >1.8 kPa (stomatal limitation)."
"Flag overshoot only if >1300 ppm sustained and crop stage sensitive to leaf burn."
Knowledge base enforcement for consistent strategy
Upload your variety-specific CO₂ targets (e.g., 1000–1200 ppm generative tomatoes), PAR cutoffs (e.g., dose only >400 µmol/m²/s), ventilation overrides, energy price thresholds, and risk limits (e.g., no dosing below 18 °C night temp).
Sera cross-checks every recommendation:
"Proposed 1100 ppm setpoint fits your Phase 5 protocol (max 1200 ppm, PAR >800); no stomatal closure risk at current VPD 1.1 kPa."
"Dosing cutoff at 16:45 aligns with your energy management rule—avoids peak pricing without yield penalty."
Orchestrated actions for efficient enrichment
Smart alerts routed: High-waste patterns to ops/CEO; dosing/hardware issues to grower/technical manager.
Automated workflows:
Low PAR detected → pause dosing + log savings.
Sustained stratification → push vent mixing cycle or sensor check task.
Price spike → suggest reduced setpoint or cutoff per SOP + approval step.
The results
Higher photosynthetic gain: Optimized dosing during true high-demand windows—faster dry matter accumulation, larger fruit, higher truss weights, and better Brix without added light investment.
Lower gas costs: 15–40% reduction in CO₂ consumption through precise timing, reduced overshoot, and minimized ventilation losses—direct OpEx savings that compound across cycles and sites.
Protected crop health: Avoid leaf burn, stomatal closure, or uneven distribution—consistent quality and reduced defect risk.
Clear ROI visibility: Real-time efficiency metrics (ppm assimilated per € spent, assimilation gain vs. baseline) inform capex decisions and protocol tuning.
Scalable precision: Uniform enrichment logic across sites and staff—predictable yield uplift even during expansions or variable conditions.
You make CO₂ a high-confidence, high-return input instead of an expensive variable.
