Ref: C0437

CFD Application for Optimization of Microalgae Cultivation

Environment

Il-Hwan Seo, Center for Green Eco Engineering, Institute of Green Bio Science and Technol-
ogy, Seoul National University, 1447 Pyeongchang-daero, Pyeongchang-gun, Gyeonggi-do,
Korea.
In-Bok Lee, Rural Systems Engineering, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Seoul Na-
tional University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, Korea.

Abstract

Microalgae are promising source for biodiesel production by considering growth rate and oil
lipid content. General cultivation systems for microalgae are divided into raceway pond or pho-
tobioreactor (PBR). The PBR system have advantages on artificial control of culture environ-
ments including temperature, light intensity, CO2 concentration which are most important fac-
tors affecting microalgae productivity. A design of PBR is a fundamental factor that can control
internal mixing in PBRs by means of flow pattern of culture medium by supplying air bubble
that not only increases CO2 concentration but also generate flow movement. A quantitative
evaluation method that measures microalgae productivity in PBR was developed by the model
interlocking between hydrodynamics and algae growth model. The process for developing
PBR designs was carried out by following steps; 1) development of computational fluid dynam-
ics (CFD) model for bubble column PBRs, 2) a particle image velocimetry (PIV) validation of
CFD model, 3) a particle tracking for each microalgae using CFD and 4) a connection with
microalgal growth model considering light intensity. Various PBR designs were quantitatively
compared with bubble injection methods, internal guiding plates, and PBR types. The CFD
computed results showed that microalgae productivity can be improved by 88.0% compared
to the basic column type PBR. Culture experiments were conducted to validate the model es-
timation in 20 L PBRs using Chlorella vulgaris. The results showed that the cell concentrations
in the upgraded PBR were increased by 88.6 % (59.4 ~ 144% during five culture experiments)
compared to the basic column type PBR.

Keywords: Chlorella vulgaris, computational fluid dynamics, growth model, particle

tracking, photobioreactor

1 Introduction

Renewable energy including solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal has been actively studied
as an alternative energy source coping with global problems of climate change and energy
depletion. Among renewable energies, bio-diesel is economic and realistic alternative source
in terms of its production process, efficiency for practical use, production costs, and
environmental effectiveness. Biodiesel which produced from vegetable oils derived from
soybean, canola, and algae is classified as a non-carbon emitting energy by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) because microalgae sequestrate airborne
carbon source by means of photosynthesis resulting in negative carbon emission. Biodiesel
can be used for heating system in agricultural and rural facilities including houses, livestock
house, and greenhouse and also can be used for transportation fuel alternating petroleum

Proceedings International Conference of Agricultural Engineering, Zurich, 06-10.07.2014 – www.eurageng.eu 1/5

diesel. Because biodiesel can be operated using existing infrastructures for diesel engines, it’s
very ideal in practical use.

Bubble column photobioreactor (PBR) is microalgae cultivation system using closed tank with
aeration for mixing internal culture medium. Using air bubble for mixing instead of mechanical
facilities, cell damage can be minimized and productivity can be enhanced by supplying carbon
source to microalgae cells.
To enhance microalgae production using photobioreactor, computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
technique has been worldwidely used to simulate internal fluid flow dynamics and to estimate
microalgae productivity. Bubble column PBRs have been simulated by many researchers with
multiphase models such as Eulerian and volumen of fluid (VOF). Two dimensional (Ekambara,
2005; Rampure et al., 2007) and three dimensional CFD simulations (Akhtar et al., 2007; Seo
et al., 2014) had been conducted using rectangular reactors, toroidal reactors, and column
PBRs. More details on PBR modeling were presented by Bitog et al. (2011). Most of CFD
modellers had been focussed on fluidic dynamics such as internal fluid flow patterns and
mixing efficiency. However, there are few researches on light distributions and microalgae
productivity in the PBRs. Light availability by depth from illuminating surface is one of the most
important factors in mass culture systems.

Most of previous CFD simulations have been focused on hydrodynamic factors such as vector
field and turbulence characteristics. This hydrodynamic apporoaches were not enough to
directly predict biomass productivity of microalgae. Therefore, a microalgal growth model
should be adapted in the CFD simulation in order to directly and quantitatively estimate
biomass productivity by considering culture conditions including light intensity, CO2
concentration, and water temperature. The light intensity exponentially decreased by depth
from illuminating surface due to biomass density resulting in decreasing microalgae
productivity.

It is necessary to develop a new evaluation method for PBR performance including mixing
efficiency according to design factors. The best way to find out PBR performance directly is
microalgae particle tracking follwoing the time-dependent location information with light
intensity which are changing by depth from illuminating depth. A new evaluation method should
not only use modeling approaches but should also employ scientific approaches such as the
growth rate by environmental conditions.

The main objective of this study is to develop a PBR performance evaluation model, which
calucates biomass productivity of microalgae, using CFD and to validate the model comparing
with cultivation experiments. The main concept of the evaluation model is the interlocking both
engineering and scientific approaches.

2 Materials and methods

CFD simulation was conducted by solving Navier-Stokes equations based on the Reynolds
theory to study hydrodynamics in the PBR. GAMBIT (version 2.4.6, ANSYS Inc., Philadelphia,
and USA) was used to design the PBR geometry by generating grids and meshes. FLUENT
(version 6.3, ANSYS Inc., Philadelphia, and USA) was used to solve the fluid dynamic
problems by solving mass, momentum, and energy conservation equations. And user defined
function (UDF) was also used to calculate direct productivity of microalgae by means of particle
tracking method and light intensity by depth from illuminating surface. Then, statistical analysis
was followed to find out significant.

Among the various multiphase models, VOF models was used to trace the boundary surfaces
between culture medium and air by using a momentum and volume fraction equations. The
VOF model can calculate surface tension, which affects the bubble size and fluid movement
which is important to form internal fluid flow pattern. The VOF model has been used for similar

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studies by Li et al. (2000), Akhtar et al. (2007), and others. A standard k-ε turbulent model was
used for this research following similar fluid dynamic studies inside the reactors (Ekambara,
2005; Rampure et al., 2007). The CFD model was validated by previous study conducted by
Seo et al. (2014) resulting in error of 0.044 m s-1 (18.8 %) using particle image velocimetry test.

A novel PBR evaluation method was developed to compare microalgae productivity

quantitatively by means of internal mixing of the bubble-column grafting growth model in terms
of light intensity. 20 liter PBRs were considered by comparing PBR performances using CFD
applying the novel PBR evaluation method according to baffle location and design, , and
arrangement of the bubble injections. Finally, culture experiments were conducted using
existing and upgraded PBRs including two column and two plate types using Chlorella vulgaris
to validate the novel PBR evaluation method. Each PBR was made of an acrylic panel consid-
ering initial cost. The PBRs were operated under N8 culture medium, bubble injections, illumi-
nation by 150 μE m-2 s-1 on light intensity. During 7 days, three samples were extracted at the
same time for measuring fresh cell weight by filtration methods. Then the results were validated
using SAS software to find out significant different in terms of PBR design.

3 Results and discussion

The novel evaluation model was developed by statistical analysis of imaginary particle move-
ments following the fluid flow pattern in PBRs as shown in Figure 1. The path of each particle
was traced by x, y, and z coordinate time-dependently and light intensity affected to each par-
ticles was calculated using the depth from the illuminating surface. The light intensity can be
calculated by two empirical factors including Fcv for the cultivation day representing microal-
gae density, and d for the depth from the illuminating surface calculated by particle locations,
PBR design, and light direction.

Using the PBR performance evaluation model, various designs for column and plate type
PBRs were considered and tested to find out enhanced design comparing to existing design.
By CFD simulation, we recommended design upgrade for each existing column and plate
PBRs. Cultivation experiments for model validation were conducted using four PBRs including
two existing and two upgraded one.

Figure 2 shows FCW (fresh cell weight) during five repeated cultivations. The average FCW
changed from 0.4 g to 4.5 g per liter for all cases. The existing column PBR produced 8.71
times increasing microalgae concentration while upgraded plate PBR gave 13.1 times higher
cell concentrations with changing the bubble injection method and baffle installation. From the
cultivation and CFD modelling, the upgraded plate PBR showed stability in terms of cell distri-
bution and flow movement resulting in increasing microalgae production. As the consequence,
the microalgae productivity can be highly increased by only changing the PBR designs, bubble
injector designs, and guidance baffle installation.

The culture experiments were conducted to validate the PBR performance evaluation model
in terms of biomass productivity. Based on the slope for each growth curve, the specific growth
rates were calculated as shown in Table 1 by comparing measured data from the culture
experiments and predicted data from CFD simulation. The overall error between cultured and
predicted specific growth rates was 15.3 %. Because only light intensity was considered as a
factor for growth model, the plate PBRs, which had larger illuminating surface than the column
PBRs, was showed higher biomass productivity.

Total production during seven cultivation days at various PBR designs are shown in Figure 3.
The FCW in the upgrade plate PBR was estimated to be enhanced by 88.6 % using more
uniform bubble injector and baffle installation which can be effectively worked to make
appropriate fluid flow pattern. The culture experiments also showed an improvement of 88.0 %,
resulting in a reasonable estimation.

Proceedings International Conference of Agricultural Engineering, Zurich, 06-10.07.2014 – www.eurageng.eu 3/5

4 Conclusions

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and cultivation experiment were conducted to develop a
novel PBR performance evaluation model for identify design improvement. The developed
model grafting scientific growth model and engineering fluid dynamic is very important trial to
quantitatively predict biomass productivity. The accuracy of the model can be upgraded by
following considerations; 1) light supply strategy considering light-dark cycles, 2) chemical re-
actions with gas transfer, and 3) flocculation effect by turbulence.

5 References

Akhtar, A., Vishnu, P., & Moses, T. (2007). CFD simulations for continuous flow of bubbles
through gas-liquid columns: Application of VOF method. Chemical Product and Process Modeling,
2 (1), 1-19.

Bitog, J. P., Lee, I.-B., Lee, C.-G., Kim, K.-S., Hwang, H.-S., Hong, S.-W., Seo, I.-H., Kwon,
K.-S., & Mostafa, E. (2011). Application of computational fluid dynamics for modeling and
designing photobioreactors for microalgae production: A review. Computers and Electronics in
Agriculture, 76 (2), 131-147.

Ekambara, K., Dhotre, M. T., & Joshi, J. B. (2005). CFD simulations of bubble column reactors:
1D, 2D, and 3D approach. Chemical Engineering Science, 60 (23), 6733-6746.

Pruvost, J., Legrand, J., & Legentilhomme, P. (2002). Simulation of microalgae growth in
limiting light conditions: Flow effect. Bioeng. Food Natural Products, 48 (5), 1109-1120.

Rampure, M. R., Kulkarni, A. A., & Ranade, V. V. (2007). Hydrodynamics of bubble column
reactors at high gas velocity: Experiments and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations.
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry, 46 (25), 8431-8447.

Seo, I.-H., Lee, I.-B., Hong, S.-W., Bitog, J. P., Kwon, K.-S., Lee, C,-G., & Kim, Z-H. (2014).
Evaluation of a photobioreactor performance grafting microalgal growth model and particle
tracking technique using CFD. Transactions of the ASABE. 57 (1), 121-139.

Figure 1: Flowchart for the PBR performance evaluation model

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 Figure 2: Fresh cell weight distributions during cultivation days according to the PBR designs

Figure 3: Total microalgae yields measured in cultivation experiments and estimated by CFD

Table 1: Comparison of specific growth rate

Specific Growth Rate (d-1) Column Column- Plate Plate-
upgrade upgrade
Cultivation 0.467 0.606 0.557 0.618
SImulation 0.383 0.517 0.657 0.685
Error -18.1 % -14.7 % +17.9 % +10.8 %

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