Developing a water-circulating column photobioreactor for microalgal growth with low energy consumption.
A water-circulating column photobioreactor (WCC-PBR) was developed to decrease bubble generation time and mixing time for growing microalgal biomass at low energy consumption. Bubble generation time was decreased by 60.4% and mixing time was decreased by 41.5% owing to an enhanced solution velocity with a water pump. Bubble residence time was decreased by 31.1% and mass transfer coefficient was decreased by 0.4% owing to a reduced distance between air aerator and solution surface. Microalgal growth rate was decreased by 12.7% from 128.9mg/Lday in an air-lifting column photobioreactor (ALC-PBR) to 112.6mg/Lday in a WCC-PBR because of the decrease in residence time of bubbles and an additional shear of cells in a water pump. However, total energy consumption of a WCC-PBR with an air compressor and a water pump was lower by 21.1% than that of an ALC-PBR with only an air compressor.
State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
Zongbo
Z
Yang
State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China. Electronic address: juncheng@zju.edu.cn.
Jun
J
Cheng
State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
Weijuan
W
Yang
State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
Junhu
J
Zhou
State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
Kefa
K
Cen
D018533:Biomass; D004867:Equipment Design; D008027:Light; D058086:Microalgae / Q000254:growth & development*; D058433:Photobioreactors / Q000382:microbiology*; D055585:Physical Phenomena; D014867:Water
D014867:Water
Bubble; Column photobioreactor; Energy consumption; Microalgae