화학공학소재연구정보센터
Bioresource Technology, Vol.270, 352-358, 2018
Reduced generation time and size of carbon dioxide bubbles in a volute aerator for improving Spirulina sp growth
A novel volute aerator was proposed to generate shear force and break gas flow through water centrifugation to promote mass transfer for CO2 fixation with microalgae. The bubble evolution and gas-liquid mixing processes in volute aerator were numerically simulated. The bubble generation time and diameter were measured on a highspeed camera and assessed with level-set method. By optimizing gas inletpipe angle and water/gas inlet velocities of volute aerator, the bubble generation time decreased by 60.1% to 3.3 ms and outlet bubble diameter decreased by 50.7% to 1.8 mm, compared with traditional strip aerator. The corresponding gas-liquid mixing time reduced by 15.6% and mass transfer coefficient increased by 42.2%. The volute aerator was used as an alternative to traditional strip aerator to culture microalgae under high-purity CO2 condition, which promoted average growth rate and biomass production by 26.6% and 50.7%, respectively.