Effects of fluid and light dynamics on H2 production in a mechanically stirred photobioreactor

Hydrogen productions through biophotolysis by microalgae in photobioreactors (PBRs) were studied using a computational model integrated with fluid dynamics, particle tracking technique, light attenuation dynamics, biochemical kinetics, and mass transport. The trajectories of microalgae entrained in the flow fields within these PBRs were traced by the particle tracking technique and were used to determine the dynamics of light attenuation subjected by the cells, which were analyzed and compared with those obtained from the unstirred PBR under different incident light illuminations. The results show an improvement on the light penetration depth in the mechanically stirred cultures. The dynamics of light attenuation was incorporated into the kinetics equations for the analysis of the inhomogeneous biochemical process for hydrogen production by microalgae. Hydrogen production in the unstirred and the impeller-stirred PBRs were determined under different light illumination conditions and the results show an improvement on hydrogen production in the impeller-stirred PBRs.