Scale-up and optimization of biohydrogen production reactor from laboratory-scale to industrial-scale on the basis of computational fluid dynamics simulation

The objective of conducting experiments in a laboratory is to gain data that helps in designing and operating large-scale biological processes. However, the scale-up and design of industrial-scale biohydrogen production reactors is still uncertain. In this paper, an established and proven Eulerian–Eulerian computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was employed to perform hydrodynamics assessments of an industrial-scale continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR) for biohydrogen production. The merits of the laboratory-scale CSTR and industrial-scale CSTR were compared and analyzed on the basis of CFD simulation. The outcomes demonstrated that there are many parameters that need to be optimized in the industrial-scale reactor, such as the velocity field and stagnation zone. According to the results of hydrodynamics evaluation, the structure of industrial-scale CSTR was optimized and the results are positive in terms of advancing the industrialization of biohydrogen production.