Quantitative Research of Photobioreactor Performance Based on an Improved Surface Fitting Method

Qihang Jin,Huijie Ma,Zhenzong He

doi:10.3390/en12214089

Abstract

The relationship between performance and working conditions in photobioreactor hydrogen production systems illuminated by a variable intensity light source has been described quantitatively using relational expressions. First, based on the finite volume method and the Michaelis-Menten model, the hydrogen production process of a photobioreactor (PBR) system was simulated numerically. Then, the performance of the PBR system was evaluated considering the hydrogen production rate, dimensionless hydrogen production rate, hydrogen production thrust coefficient and conversion efficiency of light energy to hydrogen energy rate as performance parameters, and the relationship between these parameters and working conditions was studied. Finally, the improved quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (IQPSO) and surface fitting technique based on the curve fitting method were used to obtain relational expressions about the performance and working conditions of the PBR. All of the results show that the method can obtain accurately relational expressions for the performance optimization and forecasts of the PBR system.

Highlights

With the development of the economy and improvements in quality of life, the demand for energy is increasing
Hydrogen energy has been regarded as an ideal alternative energy source because of the clean byproduct produced from its reaction with oxygen and the varieties of production methods [1,2,3]
Among the various production methods, the photobiological hydrogen production of microorganisms is considered to be an important potential method, since hydrogen production processes are operated at ambient temperatures and pressures

Summary

Introduction

With the development of the economy and improvements in quality of life, the demand for energy is increasing. The photobiological hydrogen production processes of microorganisms can be classified as follows: Photolysis of water using algae and cyanobacteria [4]. The electrons are derived from water under the light and used to reduce protons, to produce a hydrogen molecule with hydrogenase enzymes in a hydrogen production process. For cyanobacteria and blue-green algae, the electrons from the photolysis process of water are first converted into organic molecules. These organic molecules are degraded and the electrons are used by the hydrogenase and/or nitrogenase enzymes to produce hydrogen

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Conclusion