(402e) Integration of Experimental and Modeling for Evaluation of Microalgae Culturing in Split Airlift Photobioreactor

Laith S. Sabri¹, Abbas J. Sultan² and Muthanna H. Al-Dahhan³

^{1, 2, 3} Multiphase Reactors and Applications Laboratory mReal.

Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO 65409-1230. USA

Abstract

The movement of microalgae cells inside the photobioreactors is the key to enhancing the biomass productivity. This movement could affect not only by the hydrodynamics (flow dynamics) inside the photobioreactor but also the light intensity which is received. In fact, when the microalgae’s cell received the light from the illumination surface and moving to the dark zone, biomass productivity could frequently become high. Moreover, the availability of the light in all the zones inside the reactor plays a critical factor for photobioreactor performance due to the effect of the biomass enrichment. Unfortunately, the interactions between the hydrodynamics parameters and the light availability remain unclear yet. Therefore, the request for both the mechanics of cell motion and for the mathematical model which contact between the variable concentrations of microalgae cells with irradiance spread inside the reactor is need. This work focuses on the integrated of the cells' movements (cell positions) which are tracked by using an advanced non-invasive technique called Radioactive Particle Tracking (RPT) with a mathematical model for growth rate. This model linked the irradiance distribution to the concentrations of cells through the period of growing. A Plexiglas split photobioreactor column carried out in this experimental work with 5.5-inch (0.14m) inner diameter. A green alga (Scenedesmus) used for the cultivation at different superficial gas velocities (1, 2, and 3 cm/sec). The advanced information which obtained from this investigation crystallizes the understanding and knowledge of photobioreactor behavior. The experimental results and conclusions will present at the conference.

Keywords: RPT, Split Airlift Photobioreactor, Microalgae, Growth rate model.