Olivieri, G;
Salatino, P;
Marzocchella, A;
Mazzei, L;
Lettieri, P;
(2016)
A CFD-VOF based model to address intensive photobioreactor design.
In:
Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Multiphase Flow.
The Italian Association of Chemical Engineering (AIDIC): Florence, Italy.
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Abstract
The design and optimization of photobioreactors for intensive microalgal cultures are key issues to increase process performance. A model to assess the photosynthetic performance of tubular, bubble column and flat photobioreactors is presented. The model has coupled microalgal light distribution, photosynthesis kinetics and gas-liquid hydrodynamics. A lumped kinetic parameter model of photosynthetic unit (PSU) has been adopted for photosynthetic reactions. The dynamics of a microalgal cell has been described according to the gas-liquid flow of a bubble column. The flow field induced by liquid turbulence and bubbles uprising throughout the photobioreactor have been simulated with ANSYS-FLUENT. A representative domain of the flat photobioreactor has been selected by adopting proper periodic boundary conditions. Turbulence dispersion fields have been assessed by numerical simulations for several bubble size. A random-walk model developed in MATLAB has been adopted to microalgal cells to assess the irradiance experienced by the PSU-cell in the photobioreactors. The photobioreactor performances - expressed in terms of global photosynthesis rate – have been assessed. Irradiance level and biomass concentration have been changed in the range of operating conditions typically adopted for known processes.
| Type: | Proceedings paper |
|---|---|
| Title: | A CFD-VOF based model to address intensive photobioreactor design |
| Event: | 9th International Conference on Multiphase Flow |
| Location: | Florence, Italy |
| Dates: | 22 May 2016 - 27 May 2016 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Publisher version: | http://www.aidic.it/icmf2016/webpapers/pro.html |
| Language: | English |
| Keywords: | flat photobioreactor, microalgae, CFD, photosynthesis, random walk, VOF |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Chemical Engineering |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1477462 |
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