A two-dimensional model is developed to describe the photosynthetic bacteria (PSB) biofilm formation on the solid surface in a flat-panel photobioreactor. The diffusion-reaction equations and cellular automata (CA) rule along with the previously obtained growth kinetics parameters of PSB are used to simulate the coupled mass transport and biochemical reaction as well as the biomass growth. With this model, the effects of the illumination intensity, pH value and initial inoculation on the formed biofilm morphology, porosity, roughness and thickness are investigated. Numerical results show that the biofilm porosity and thickness continuously decreases and increases during the PSB biofilm formation process, respectively, while the surface roughness reaches a stable value after a certain time. The optimal conditions for the PSB biofilm formation are the initial inoculation of 500, and the illumination intensity of 5000 lx and pH value of 7.0. Copyright (C) 2012, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.