Muharam Y., Pramadana A., Wirya A., 2017, Modelling and Simulation of a Bubble Column Photobioreactor for the Cultivation of Microalgae Nannochloropsis Salina, Chemical Engineering Transactions, 56, 1555-1560.
The objective of the research is to obtain the valid model of a photobioreactor for the cultivation of microalgae Nannochloropsis salina. An axisymmetric two-dimensional model of internal-illuminated bubble column photobioreactors was developed by considering the gas and liquid mass balances and the light intensity. The validation of the model against experimental data with the inlet gas flow rate of 800 mL/min and enriched with0.5 % and 2 % CO2 gives average errors of 5 % and 4 %. The simulation results show that the microalgae growth is marked by the increase in its concentration from 0.08 g/L on the first day to 0.51 g/L on the sixteenth day for CO2 concentration of 2 %. The inlet CO2 concentrations of 0.5 %, 1 %, 2 %, and 4 % give the maximum concentrations of microalgae of 0.421 g/L, 0.472 g L, 0.502 g/L, and 0.514 g/L. However, the effect is not significant when the CO2 concentration is above 4 %. Change in the gas flow rate does not give significant influence on the microalgae growth.
