Simulations of light intensity variation in photobioreactors

Abstract

In photobioreactors, turbulent flow conditions and light gradients frequently occur. Thus, algal cells cultivated in such reactors experience fluctuations in light intensity. This work presents a new method for the calculation of these light–dark patterns. The investigation is focused on temporal and spatial aspects of light patterns which may affect the photosynthetic reaction. The method combines computational fluid dynamics simulations of three-dimensional turbulent single-phase fluid flow with statistical particle tracking and signal analysis. In this way, light–dark phases are derived which affect singular (algal) cells. An example case is presented of a tubular photobioreactor in which static mixers are used for the efficient mixing of liquid and also of gases with liquid. Particle trajectories representing the path of algal cells were analysed to obtain light fluctuations on single cells. Particles were exposed to light–dark phases with frequencies between 3 and 25 Hz in a helical mixer at a mean velocity of 0.5 m s −1, which contrasts to the case of a tube without static mixers, where only frequencies of 0.2–3.1 Hz were obtained under the same conditions. The simulations show the potential of improving radial flow in a tubular photobioreactor by means of using a static mixer and the usefulness of CFD and trajectory analysis for scale-down/scale-up.