Mathematical Modelling of Drying of Chlorella Sp., Neochloris Conjuncta and Botryococcus Braunii at Different Drying Conditions

Abstract

Drying is one of the most important process in the cultivation of microalgae. Performance of drying depends on appropriate drying methods. This study aimed (1) to determine the effect of different drying methods on the Chlorella sp., Neochloris conjuncta, and Botryococcus braunii strains and (2) to identify the most suitable model for drying methods. Chlorella sp., Neochloris conjuncta and Botryococcus braunii cultures were grown in basal medium in raceways at the greenhouse condition in Isparta province. During experiment, air temperature and relative humidity, wind speed, solar irradiance, wet and dry mass and temperature of microalgae biomass were measured. Drying applications continued for approximately 3 days. Microalgae were dried at solar tunnel, outdoor, and greenhouse conditions. Furthermore, the effect of drying methods such as open sun, solar tunnel, and greenhouse drying on drying time, and drying ratio of microalgae have been investigated. The drying data were applied to ten different mathematical models, namely, Newton, Page, Henderson and Pabis, Logarithmic, Midilli and Kucuk, Wang and Singh, Two Term, Two Term Exponential, Weibull and Logistic Equation Models. The performance of these models were compared according to the coefficient of determination, standard error of estimate and residual sum of squares, between the observed and predicted moisture ratios. Results showed that the Weibull equation gave the best prediction to the drying kinetics evidenced by coefficient of determination ranging from 0.9959 -0.9992 for all drying methods. In addition, solar tunnel drying method has been determined to be the most suitable one among tested methods for drying of microalgae. . J. of Food Engineering. 2002; 55 pp:209-216. Yaldiz O, Ertekin C and Uzun HI.. Mathematical modelling of thin layer solar drying of Sultana grapes. Energy. 2001; 26. 457-465.

Drying Characteristics of <i>Chlorella pyrenoidosa</i> Using Oven and its Evaluation for Bio-Ethanol Production

“…The drying of Chlorella sp. has been studied using a greenhouse drying [19]. The initial moisture content was 79.66% dry weight, and after drying for 56 h it decreased to 20.70% dry weight.…”

Drying characteristics of maize grain in solar bubble dryer

“…So, only the day time experimental data has been considered in the current study. For large scale solar drying of crops like solar tunnel dryer, it is common practice to follow such procedure for thin layer kinetic modeling (Agbossou et al, ; Demir & Sacilik, ; Karaaslan, Uysal, Uysal, Ekinci, & Kumbul, ).…”

Modeling, simulation, and optimization of a microalgae biomass drying process

“…3 During the drying process, the wet solid exposed to air at a given temperature and humidity will lose water until an equilibrium condition is established with the environment. 4 These changes of heat and water content can be modeled through theoretical or empirical approaches, [5][6][7] or by applying the principles of energy and mass transfer, and by a set of empirical and constitutive equations, which must be established to complete the mathematical model. Based on such principles, several mathematical models have been proposed to describe the drying process, [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] among which the so-called multiphase model has been shown to be accurate and effective.…”