Influence of the cross-section type in the hydrodynamics of solar collectors of tubular photobioreactors

Diversos estudios en los cultivos de microalgas muestran la relación de la eficiencia fotosintética con la agitación; esta incidencia fue evaluada en colectores solares para fotobiorreactores tubulares que poseen diversas geometrías en el perfil transversal –circular, octagonal, hexagonal y cuadrado. En este trabajo se realizó un estudio computacional de un cultivo de microalgas (flujo monofásico) para cada uno de estos colectores solares con un diámetro hidráulico de 2in, 100in de longitud y seis diferentes velocidades de entrada del cultivo al colector (de 0,25 a 0,5m/s), para establecer la influencia de los perfiles en el comportamiento del fluido. Se evaluaron los parámetros de velocidad, caída de presión, flujo secundario y esfuerzo cortante; estableciendo que el colector con perfil hexagonal proporciona la mejor agitación debido a la irregularidad geométrica, aunque se deben utilizar velocidades de entrada del cultivo menores a 0.3m/s para garantizar un modelo de crecimiento de las microalgas continuo, de acuerdo con la tendencia de la bibliografía. Bajo este régimen de operación se encontró que los valores de esfuerzos cortantes no causan daños en la pared celular de las microalgas haciendo viable su implementación en plantas piloto.

Several studies in microalgae cultures show the relation between the photosynthetic efficiency and agitation, this effect was evaluated in solar collectors for tubular photobioreactors, which have different geometries in cross section (circular, octagonal, hexagonal and square). In this work, a computational study of microalgae culture (single-phase flow) for each of these solar collectors with a hydraulic diameter of 2 in, 100 in of length and six different culture inlet velocities to the collector (0.25 to 0.5 m/s) are performed to set the influence of profiles on the fluid behavior. The speed, pressure drop, secondary flow and shear stress was analyzed, establishing that the collector with hexagonal profile provides better agitation due to the irregular geometry, but the inlet velocities of the culture must be used in the collector for less than 0.3 m/s to ensure a continuous growth model of microalgae according to the literature tendency. It was found, under this operation regime, that the shear stress values do not cause damage to the wall cell of the microalgae making this implementation feasible in pilot plants.

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Área Ambiental

Influencia del tipo de sección transversal en la hidrodinámica de los colectores solares de los fotobiorreactores tubulares