Verification and validation of CFD simulations for local flow dynamics in a draft tube airlift bioreactor

Airlift reactors have been recognized as one of the promising photobioreactors for biomass/bio-energy production, where mixing has significant impact on the reactor performance. In recent years, using CFD simulations to track microorganism cells and to generate their trajectories in the reactor for...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chemical engineering science Vol. 66; no. 5; pp. 907 - 923
Main Authors: Luo, Hu-Ping, Al-Dahhan, Muthanna H.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2011
Elsevier
Subjects:
Airlift column
Aluminum
Applied sciences
Biological and medical sciences
bioreactors
Biotechnology
CFD
Chemical engineering
Computational fluid dynamics
Computer simulation
Draft tubes
Exact sciences and technology
Flow dynamics
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Mathematical models
Methods. Procedures. Technologies
Microorganisms
mixing
Multiphase
Others
Particle tracking
Photobioreactor
Reactors
simulation models
Trajectories
Various methods and equipments
Walls
CFD
Flow dynamics
Multiphase
Particle tracking
Airlift column
Photobioreactor
Airlift reactor
Mixing
Computational fluid dynamics
Benchmarks
Recirculation
Biomass
Modeling
Design
Bioreactor
Production
Draft tube
Database
Reliability
Tracers
ISSN:0009-2509, 1873-4405
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Airlift reactors have been recognized as one of the promising photobioreactors for biomass/bio-energy production, where mixing has significant impact on the reactor performance. In recent years, using CFD simulations to track microorganism cells and to generate their trajectories in the reactor for reactor performance evaluations becomes more common. However, there is a lack of systematic and rigorous verifications and validations of the reliability of CFD models in particle tracking against experimental measurements in the open literature, which is vital for the faithful application of CFD in reactor design and scale-ups. In this work, we attempt to evaluate the reliability of using CFD simulations to generate trajectories of microorganisms in a draft tube column photobioreactor. A computationally promising CFD simulation model based on CFX5.7 was validated against a benchmark experimental database reported in Luo and Al-Dahhan (2008a, b, 2010). This model was then used to generate typical trajectories of microorganisms in the studied airlift column, which was further validated against experimentally measured tracer trajectories. The results indicated that the CFD model reasonably predicted the recirculation of the microorganism around the draft tube, however over-estimated the cells' residence time in the wall regions. Proper treatment for the wall region such as griding and wall function is needed to better capture the movement of microorganism cells in such bioreactors.
Bibliography:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2010.11.038
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ISSN:0009-2509
1873-4405
DOI:10.1016/j.ces.2010.11.038