Modeling and Simulation of Irradiance for Photobioreactors with Complex Geometry for Exploration of Algal Growth

In recent years photobioreactors (PBR) have shown that they can play a major role in the required conversion from fossil fuel to bio based products. With their help, CO2 neutral biomass is obtained for bio fuels or for the feed industry in large quantities and also high quality fine chemicals like unsaturated fatty acids and carotinoid. In order to compete with the traditional production, PBR lack of efficient application of the equally necessary and cost-intensive artificial lightning and mixing. The project's objective is to predict the light distribution in PBR using innovative simulation methods and to analyze the flow field in photobioreactor with complex geometries. Based on the results, the design of conventional PBR is reviewed and new spongy PBR are developed. First, an innovative three-dimensional light simulation in participating media was designed on the basis of Lattice Boltzmann Methods. In the next step, the simulation was calibrated in real PBR and used.

This project is funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)

Project number 322739165

Publications

Mink, A., Schediwy, K., Posten, C., Nirschl, H., Simonis, S., Krause, M.J. (2022). Comprehensive Computational Model for Coupled Fluid Flow, Mass Transfer, and Light Supply in Tubular Photobioreactors Equipped with Glass Sponges. Energies.
DOI: 10.3390/en15207671 (Open Access)

Mink, A., McHardy, C., Bressel, L., Rauh, C., Krause, M.J. (2020). Radiative transfer lattice Boltzmann methods: 3D models and their performance in different regimes of radiative transfer. Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jqsrt.2019.106810

Mink, A., Thäter, G., Nirschl, H., and Krause, M. J. (2016). A 3D Lattice Boltzmann method for light simulation in participating media. Journal of Computational Science.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jocs.2016.03.014

Algae KIT
Algae KIT

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