CFD optimization of continuous stirred-tank (CSTR) reactor for biohydrogen production

• Published in: Bioresource technology 2010-09, Vol.101 (18), p.7005-7013
• Main Authors: Ding, Jie, Wang, Xu, Zhou, Xue-Fei, Ren, Nan-Qi, Guo, Wan-Qian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; Biofuel production; Biohydrogen production; Biological and medical sciences; Bioreactors - microbiology; Biotechnology; Computational fluid dynamics; Computational fluid dynamics (CFD); Computer Simulation; Computer-Aided Design; Continuous stirred-tank reactors (CSTR); Energy; Equipment Design; Equipment Failure Analysis; Fluid flow; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hydrodynamics; Hydrogen - metabolism; Impellers; Industrial applications and implications. Economical aspects; Mathematical models; Models, Biological; Optimization; Reactor design; Reactors; Rheology - instrumentation
• ISSN: 0960-8524; 1873-2976
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2010.03.146

There has been little work on the optimal configuration of biohydrogen production reactors. This paper describes three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of gas–liquid flow in a laboratory-scale continuous stirred-tank reactor used for biohydrogen production. To evaluate the role of hydrodynamics in reactor design and optimize the reactor configuration, an optimized impeller design has been constructed and validated with CFD simulations of the normal and optimized impeller over a range of speeds and the numerical results were also validated by examination of residence time distribution. By integrating the CFD simulation with an ethanol-type fermentation process experiment, it was shown that impellers with different type and speed generated different flow patterns, and hence offered different efficiencies for biohydrogen production. The hydrodynamic behavior of the optimized impeller at speeds between 50 and 70 rev/min is most suited for economical biohydrogen production.