Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of airlift bioreactor: Effect of draft tube configurations on hydrodynamics, cell suspension, and shear rate
Abstract
The biomass productivity of microalgae cells mainly depends on the hydrodynamics of airlift bioreactor (ABR). Thus, the hydrodynamics of concentric tube ABR was initially studied using two-phase three-dimensional CFD simulations with the Eulerian-Lagrangian approach. The performance of ABR (17 L) was examined for different configurations of the draft tube using various drag models such as Grace, Ishii-Zuber, and Schiller-Naumann. The gas holdups in the riser and the downcomer were well predicted using E-L approach. This work was further extended to study the dispersion of microalgae cells in the ABR using three-phase CFD simulations. In this model (combined E-E and E-L), the solid phase (microalgae cells) was dispersed into the continuous liquid phase (water), while the gas phase (air bubbles) was modeled as a particle transport fluid. The effect of non-drag forces such as virtual mass and lift forces was also considered. Flow regimes were explained on the basis of the relative gas holdup distribution in the riser and the downcomer. The microalgae cells were found in suspension for the superficial gas velocities of 0.02-0.04 m s-1 experiencing an average shear of 23.52-44.56 s-1 which is far below the critical limit of cell damage.
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The purpose of the listed models covers a variety of applications, including mechanistic understanding, investigations on flashing-light effect, design optimization, and optimization of operating conditions.
“The purpose of the listed models covers a variety of applications, including the mechanistic understanding of photobioreactors [17-21], investigations on the flashing-light effect [22-31], photobioreactor design optimization [21,22,29,32-42] and optimization of operating conditions [26,34-36,43-45].”
From Modeling and Simulation of Photobioreactors with Computational Fluid Dynamics—A Comprehensive Review (2022) · cites this paper as [19]
The literature includes models for two-phase gas-liquid flows, solid-liquid flows, or three-phase gas-solid-liquid flows.
“The literature includes models for two-phase gasliquid flows [17-19,25,39-42,44,45,125,135], solid-liquid flows [21,23,24,34,36-38,126] or three-phase gas-solid-liquid flows [19,26-31,136].”
From Modeling and Simulation of Photobioreactors with Computational Fluid Dynamics—A Comprehensive Review (2022) · cites this paper as [19]
The most commonly used drag models for gas-liquid flows in photobioreactor models are the Schiller-Naumann, Grace, Ishii-Zuber and Tomiyama models.
“According to Table 2, the most commonly used drag models for gas-liquid flows are the Schiller-Naumann [17,25,27,29], Grace [45,135], Ishii-Zuber [18,19,26,136] and Tomiyama models [30,31,125]”
From Modeling and Simulation of Photobioreactors with Computational Fluid Dynamics—A Comprehensive Review (2022) · cites this paper as [19]
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Modeling and Simulation of Photobioreactors with Computational Fluid Dynamics—A Comprehensive Review
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- Authors
- Pawar, S. B.
- Affiliations
- National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (IN)
- Corresponding author
- Pawar, Sanjay B.
- ORCID
- Pawar, Sanjay B.
- Venue
- Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering
- Published
- 2017-09-19
- Volume
- 41
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 31-45
- ISSN
- 1615-7591 (ISSN-L)
- 1615-7605
- OpenAlex
- W2755766361
- Cited by
- 32
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 6 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 1.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Fluid Dynamics and Mixing
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Algal biology and biofuel production
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Computational Mechanics › Granular flow and fluidized beds
- Keywords
- airlift bioreactor, microalgae cultivation, hydrodynamics, gas holdup, cell suspension culture, shear rate, Eulerian-Lagrangian model, two-fluid model, drag model, virtual mass force, lift force, flow regimes, cell damage
- MeSH terms
- Computer Simulation, Models, Biological, Bioreactors, Hydrodynamics, Microalgae
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