Gas bubble dynamics in airlift photo-bioreactors for microalgae cultivation by level set methods

Coupled level set and CFD (computational fluid dynamics) methods are adopted in this work to track the moving gas–liquid interfaces riser of an external loop airlift photobioreactor (ALR) which microalgae used produce biofuels capture CO2 from flue-gas. Modeling behavior gas bubbles is a crucial aspect for fine-tuning operation reactor when inserted into closed-loop biorefinery at pilot-scale. The experimental data simulation were completely acquired or calculated hydrodynamic campaigns carried out on ALRs. rise, coalescence, shape dynamics flue-gas simulated rectangular domain representing vertical section ALR riser. Different correction approaches, such as conservative method (CLSM), proposed face volume loss characteristic LSM. Computational results evidenced strong agreement with (bubble shapes trajectories). physically-based CLSM model was then effectively multiphase flow regime inside ALRs, suggesting operating conditions outdoor cultivation Reynolds number = 10000 – 11000, Sherwood between 1400 1800, spherical-caps upper half riser, mildly churning while avoiding damages their cells.