Aiming to culture algae with high efficiency, a novel vertical multi-column airlift photobioreactor (VMAPBR) has been developed. It was constructed with a series of vertically arranged parallel columns with easy scalability. The hydrodynamic, irradiation and shear stress characteristics of the photobioreactor were studied by computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Accordingly, the optimal aeration manner and aeration rate were determined. When the novel airlift PBR was alternately aerated with aeration rate of 0.2 vvm, the biomass concentration of Chlorella pyrenoidosa under outdoor condition reached 1.30 g L-1 within the prototype PBR and was further increased to 1.56 g L-1 within the optimized PBR. The result of cultivation experiment had good agreement with that of CFD prediction. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.