Temperature Effects on Microalgae Cell Growth in an Outdoor HLTP
摘要
Biofuel from microalgae is a promising alternative that can substitute fossil fuels because they are renewable and eco-friendly. The growth of microalgae is influenced by numerous culture parameters, and temperature is considered one of the vital growth factors among them. In this study, we developed a computational growth model related to irradiance related temperature for an outdoor operated Horizontal Loop Tubular Photobioreactor (HLTP) for a specific geographic location. The effects of direct and diffuse solar radiation on the Photobioreactor (PBR) temperature are considered in this model. The meteorological data associated with the geographic location has been collected for the simulation. We simulated the model by COMSOL Multiphysics and ob-served a temperature fluctuation between 24.85 \(^{\circ }\) C and 38.45 \(^{\circ }\) C throughout the PBR domain. The significant issue of temperature control is also suggested from this study. Over the simulated period, a uniform cell growth has been observed. The hydrodynamic behaviors of the suspension flow inside the reactor, radial and axial temperature distribution are also analyzed in this study.