A lumped parameter chemical–physical model for tubular photobioreactors

Modelado y control de la producción de microalgas en fotobiorreactores industriales

“…Sin embargo, no siempre es necesario disponer de modelos de tan alta precisión y en diversas ocasiones se requieren modelos más simplificados que puedan ser utilizados para el diseño de algoritmos de control. Por ejemplo, en (Fernández et al, 2014b), se obtuvo una versión adaptada del modelo basado en primeros principios presentado en la sección anterior para fotobioreactores tubulares. En este caso, todos los balances del sistema en las distintas partes del fotobioreactor fueron considerados de mezcla perfecta, donde la distribución espacial del lazo fue aproximada por un retardo variable que dependía de la velocidad del medio en el mismo.…”

“…Dichos parámetros toman valores particulares dependiendo del tipo de reactor, del tipo de cepa de microalga y de la estación del año. Este modelo simplificado presenta la misma estructura tanto en reactores abiertos como en reactores cerrados, y ha sido correctamente validado experimentalmente en los dos tipos de sistemas (Fernández et al, 2010(Fernández et al, , 2014bPawlowski et al, 2015).…”

Engineering strategies for the enhancement of Nannochloropsis gaditana outdoor production: Influence of the CO2 flow rate on the culture performance in tubular photobioreactors

“…The experiments were carried out in pilot-scale tubular photobioreactors of 3.0 m 3 (working volume of 2.6 m 3 ), located inside a greenhouse at the "Estación Experimental Las Palmerillas" property of Fundación CAJAMAR (Almería, Spain). The pilot plant comprises ten tubular photobioreactors, these ones consisting of solar light receivers and a bubble column, as previously described by Fernández et al [21]. The light receivers comprising tubes of 19 m in length and 0.09 m in diameter, united in a loop configuration, with a total horizontal length of 400 m. The bubble column was 3.5 m high and 0.5 m in diameter, with a work volume of 0.45 m 3 .…”

Dimensionless equations to describe microalgal growth in a planar cultivation system

“…Dimensionless, generalized forms also simplify the solution using numerical methods and reduce the number of times a set of equations needs to be solved. While many complex and eloquent studies on photobioreactor (PBR) modeling, which use sets of coupled, highly non-linear differential equations have been described (Acién Fernández 2013;Fernández et al 2014), a dimensionless description of a PBR bioprocess has remained absent in the literature even though dimensionless expressions to describe microbial growth in fermenters have been established for decades (Dunn and Mor 1975) and the techniques to do so have become routine in bioprocess engineering textbooks (Blanch and Clark 1997). While algal bioprocesses have been in existence for decades, an explosion of interest and a nearly exponential increase in research within this field (Wijffels et al 2013) has taken place since the publication of Chisti's review article on algal biodiesel (Chisti 2007).…”