Modeling of batch phenol biodegradation in internal loop airlift bioreactor with gas recirculation by Candida tropicalis

A mathematical model for simulating the dynamic behaviors of batch phenol biodegradation processes in internal loop airlift bioreactor (ILAB) with gas recirculation using free cells of the yeast Candida tropicalis was established by coupling the fluid dynamic model and the mass balance model. Based on the coupling arithmetic, the program for evaluating batch phenol biodegradation processes was achieved. The predicted results of linear liquid velocities, gas holdups, linear gas velocities, cell and phenol concentration profiles in the riser and the downcomer of the ILAB with gas recirculation agreed very well with the corresponding experimental data, and the applicability and reliability of this proposed model were validated.     

一株高效苯酚降解菌的分离鉴定及动力学研究

从活性污泥中分离出了热带假丝酵母。该菌株可利用苯酚做碳源和能源,降酚能力达到2 000 mg/L。通过对该菌株在不同温度、pH值以及不同苯酚组成下的生长和降解情况的研究,确定了该菌株最适宜的降解工艺条件;获得了细胞生长动力学模型。     

Gas-Sparged bioreactors for CO2 fixation by Dunaliella tertiolecta

Two kinds of bioreactors, a bubble-column and an air-lift bioreactor, have been designed. The influence of operating conditions such as medium composition, light intensity, carbon dioxide concentration in the flushing gas, culture temperature, and gas flow rate, on photosynthesis of Dunaliella tertiolecta were studied using a chemometrics approach. The bubble-column bioreactor system was shown to be advantageous over the air-life because of a weaker intensity of hydrodynamic stress derived from gas bubble dispersion and culture broth mixing. Optimal conditions for carbon dioxide fixation or maximal growth rate were determined. The effect of hydrodynamic shear forces on the algal wall produced by gas bubbling was identified as one of the most significant factors for algal growth.     

Modelling of phenol biodegradation by Candida tropicalis immobilised in alginate gel beads

Phenol‐degrading yeast Candida tropicalis were immobilised in alginate gel beads and photographed by scanning electron microscopy. Batch phenol biodegradation experiments were done in shaking flasks under varying conditions such as initial phenol concentrations and bead loadings. A mathematical model was proposed to simulate the batch phenol biodegradation process in the immobilised system, which took into account the internal and external mass transfer resistances of phenol and oxygen and the double‐substrate phenol–oxygen intrinsic kinetics. The validation of this model was done by the comparison between the model simulations and the experimental measurements of phenol concentration profiles in the main liquid phase. Moreover, the time and radius courses of phenol, oxygen, and cell concentration profiles within the alginate gel beads were reasonably predicted by the proposed model.     

Local hydrodynamics of gas–liquid-nanoparticles three-phase fluidization

The laser Doppler anemometer (LDA) and conductivity probes were used for measuring the local hydrodynamic performances such as gas holdup and liquid velocity in a lab-scale gas–liquid–TiO₂ nanoparticles three-phase bubble column. Effects of operating parameters on the local gas holdup and liquid velocity were investigated systematically. Experimental results showed that local averaged axial liquid velocity and local averaged gas holdup increased with increasing superficial gas velocity but decreased with increasing TiO₂ nanoparticles loading and the axial distance from the bottom of the bubble column. A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model was developed in this paper to simulate the structure of gas–liquid–TiO₂ nanoparticles three-phase flow in the bubble column. The time-averaged and time-dependent predictions were compared with experimental data for model validation. A successful prediction of instantaneous local gas holdup, gas velocity, and liquid velocity were also presented.     

突变株CTM2降解苯酚和4-氯酚的生物降解特性

The biodegradations of phenol and 4-chlorophenol (4-cp) were studied using the mutant strain CTM 2 obtained by the He-Ne laser irradiation on wild-type Candida tropicalis. The results showed that the capacity of the CTM 2 to biodegrade 4-cp was increased up to 400 mg•L－1 within 59.5 h. In the dual-substrate biodegradation, both velocity and capacity of the CTM 2 to degrade 4-cp increased with low-concentration phenol. A total of 400 mg•L－1 4-cp was completely degraded within 50.5 h in the presence of 300 mg•L－1 phenol. The maximum 4-cp biodegradation could reach 440 mg•L－1 with 120 mg•L－1 phenol. Low-concentration 4-cp caused great inhibition on the CTM 2 to degrade phenol. In addition, the kinetic behaviors were described using the kinetic model proposed in this lab.     

CFD simulations to portray the bubble distribution and the hydrodynamics in an annulus sparged air‐lift bioreactor

Air‐lift bioreactor (ABR) are applied in the pharmaceutical industry for those processes of low‐oxygen demand. The characteristics of the air bubbles in an ABR are important since they influence the overall performance of the bioreactor. In this article, two‐dimensional CFD simulations are carried out to portray the flow characteristics in an annulus‐sparged ABR with a low‐aeration rate, which is a scaled geometry of a 200 m³ annulus‐sparged ABR for the L ‐ascorbic acid manufacturing. VOF model is applied firstly to capture the flow behaviour of the bubbles in the bioreactor, and the distributions of the bubbles and local mean bubble sizes are approximately obtained. With the local mean bubble size distribution, Eulerian model is adopted to investigate the performance of the bioreactor. The liquid velocity and the gas holdup are further discussed. The results show the existence of the local back mixing as well as the mal‐distributions of the velocity and the gas holdup along the radial direction in the annulus‐sparged ABR.     

Biodegradation of phenol: A comparative study with and without applying magnetic fields

The objective of this work was to study the effect of magnetic fields on the rate of phenol biodegradation using immobilized activated sludge. A recirculation flow bioreactor employing immobilized bacterial beads was used with phenol as the substrate to study the biodegradation process. This study was conducted by applying separately the north pole and the south pole magnetic fields to the bioreactor. Rate of dissolved oxygen consumption, phenol concentration and extracellular protein concentration were the parameters monitored during the process. It was observed that by applying a magnetic south pole to the process, biodegradation in the form of biological oxidation was enhanced. A 30% increase in biodegradation rate was obtained by applying a magnetic south pole of strength of 0.45 Tesla to the bioreactor with immobilized microbial beads as compared to the control. Magnetic north pole irradiation inhibited this type of biooxidation. This process has potential for biological treatment of organic wastes.     

用CFD研究气升式内环流生物反应器下降管中的流体力学性质

在对气升式内环流生物反应器内部流动分析基础上,全面考虑反应器下降管中气泡的并聚破碎、气液两相间相互作用和滑移等, 建立了能描述反应器下降管中复杂流动的CFD数学模型. 运用CFX-4.4对模型方程进行求解, 通过求解得到了包括气液两相速度场、局部气含率分布等详尽信息,并就液相流动速度与相应条件下的PIV测试结果进行了比较,主体流动速度的偏差在20%以下,且两者总的变化趋势一致.该模型能较好地预测反应器下降管内的复杂流场.     

Long-term prediction of nonlinear hydrodynamics in bubble columns by using artificial neural networks

An artificial neural network (ANN) model was proposed for the long-term prediction of nonlinear dynamics underlying holdup fluctuations in bubble columns with three different diameters of 200, 400 and 800 mm. Local holdup fluctuations were measured with an optical probe in the bubble columns. The superficial gas velocity was varied in the range of 33–90 mm/s. The time intervals between successive bubbles were extracted from the time series of holdup fluctuations to represent hydrodynamic behaviors in the system and used as training and validation data sets. The effect of data preprocessing as well as the numbers of nodes in input and hidden layers on the ANN training behavior was systematically investigated. The prediction capability of the ANN was evaluated in terms of time-averaged characteristics, power spectra and Lyapunov exponents. It was observed that: the ANN model, which was trained with experimental time series and gas velocity, can be used for the long-term prediction of dynamic characteristics in bubble columns by using random data as the initial input. The results indicate that the trained ANN models have the potential of modeling nonlinear hydrodynamic behaviors in bubble columns.     

气液两相泡状流界面浓度的研究

用双头电导探针对水平管泡状流局部界面参数进行了测量。用概率统计方法对测量结果进行了处理 ,计算了气泡速度、气泡直径、气泡频率、界面浓度等局部参数。结果表明 ,界面浓度沿径向的分布与气泡频率沿径向的分布类似 ,都是靠管上壁较大、靠管下壁较小。其峰值都在距上壁r/R =0 .75— 0 .95之间。与直接用探针测得的速度计算结果比较 ,速度要高 0— 8.7% ,界面浓度要大 0— 35 .2 %。     

Artificial neural networks model for the prediction of steady state phenol biodegradation in a pulsed plate bioreactor

BACKGROUND: A recent innovation in fixed film bioreactors is the pulsed plate bioreactor (PPBR) with immobilized cells. The successful development of a theoretical model for this reactor relies on the knowledge of several parameters, which may vary with the process conditions. It may also be a time‐consuming and costly task because of their nonlinear nature. Artificial neural networks (ANN) offer the potential of a generic approach to the modeling of nonlinear systems. RESULTS: A feedforward ANN based model for the prediction of steady state percentage degradation of phenol in a PPBR by immobilized cells of Nocardia hydrocarbonoxydans (NCIM 2386) during continuous biodegradation has been developed to correlate the steady state percentage degradation with the flow rate, influent phenol concentration and vibrational velocity (amplitude × frequency). The model used two hidden layers and 53 parameters (weights and biases). The network model was then compared with a Multiple Regression Analysis (MRA) model, derived from the same training data. Further these two models were used to predict the percentage degradation of phenol for blind test data. CONCLUSIONS: The performance of the ANN model was superior to that of the MRA model and was found to be an efficient data‐driven tool to predict the performance of a PPBR for phenol biodegradation. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

自然循环条件下窄通道内气泡速度特性

气泡运动速度是气泡行为重要参数,对建立完善的气泡换热机理模型具有意义。以水为工质开展自然循环流动条件下窄通道内气泡速度特性实验研究。分析了单气泡和气泡群速度变化规律、影响因素以及引入摇摆运动后的速度特性。气泡速度主要取决于气泡尺寸和主流速度两个因素,摇摆条件下气泡速度会发生周期性波动,竖直稳态或摇摆动态条件下气泡形心液相速度与气泡速度近似相等。     

Gas-phase properties in stirred tank bioreactors

Bubble properties in stirred tank bioreactors equipped with standard radial flow Rushton turbines have been investigated. Bubble velocity patterns within a stirred tank reactor were derived from measured local bubble velocity distributions. Local information on specific interfacial areas, bubble number densities and bubble diameters together with local gas hold-ups, measured in a model medium at gas flow rates which are employed in practice, is presented. All measurements were performed with two new ultrasound pulse techniques which can be used in model as well as during real cultivation processes.     

Hydrodynamics of a Multi‐Stage Internal Loop Airlift Reactor

The local hydrodynamic properties in a multi‐stage internal loop airlift reactor were investigated in this study. The gas‐liquid two‐phase flow hydrodynamic properties, including gas holdup, bubble velocity, bubble diameter, and liquid circulation velocity at various stages were measured by dual electrical resistivity probes and conductivity cells. Detailed studies on the gas holdup, bubble velocity, bubble diameter, and liquid circulation velocity were conducted with respect to various values of superficial gas. The Zuber and Findlay drift flux model was used to represent the variation of slip velocity with total gas‐liquid velocity at various stages and the model fits the data well.     

采用压力传感技术测量鼓泡床中流体力学参数

引　言鼓泡床以其良好的传热、传质、相间充分接触和高效的可连续操作特性在许多领域得到了广泛应用 .在过去的 4 0多年里 ,人们采用许多测量方法(光导纤维、多普勒测速仪、电导法、压力传感技术 )对鼓泡床中的各种流动行为进行了大量研究 ,由于床层内流动的复杂性以及各测量手段间的差别 ,得出的结论不尽相同[1] ,而且工业反应多数在高温、高压、非透明体系下进行 ,这限制了许多测量技术的应用 .压力传感技术以其适用范围广、所需仪器便宜、耐用、测量结果准确的特点在鼓泡床流体力学参数测量中得到了广泛应用床层塌落法是压力传感技术在鼓泡床流体力学参数测量中的一个重要应用 .Sriram和Mann[2 ] 较早地将其应用于测量鼓泡床中的气含率 ;Fan等[3] 也曾利用此方法测量鼓泡床内的固含率 .前人大都采用压力传感技术测量床层内的平均相含率 ,而采用此方法测量大小气泡分数和气泡上升速度的报道很少 .本文根据前人在此方面的研究成果并结合本实验的特点进行了这方面的研究1　实验装置本实验结合工业对二甲苯氧化反应器的特点设计并建立了其流体力学冷模实验装置 ,如图 1所示 .鼓泡床高 6 6m ,内径 0 3m .在鼓泡床一侧自...     

四传感器光纤探针测量气泡速度矢量模型

光纤传感器作为纤维光学领域中的新技术,在两相流动局部参数测量中得到了越来越广泛的应用。在假设气泡对称面垂直于气泡运动方向的基础上,对四传感器探针测量局部瞬时气泡速度的数学原理进行了详细推导,给出了新的计算气泡速度矢量的方法和模型,并运用自制的四传感器光纤探针,对气液两相流动中的气泡运动速度和方向进行了测量。实验中通过探针方法测得气相流速相对于流量计测量值的平均偏差为9%,表明新的探针测量方法精度较高,能够用于两相流中气泡速度矢量测量。进一步的实验研究表明,不同流动条件下,局部空泡份额及界面面积浓度(IAC)沿通道径向呈“壁峰型”或“核峰型”的分布规律。     

Local hydrodynamics modeling of a gas–liquid–solid three-phase bubble column

A three-dimensional (3D) transient model was developed to simulate the local hydrodynamics of a gas–liquid–solid three-phase bubble column using the computational fluid dynamic method, where the multiple size group model was adopted to determine the size distribution of the gas bubbles. Model simulation results, such as the local time-averaged gas holdups and axial liquid velocities, were validated by experimental measurements under varied operating conditions, e.g., superficial gas velocities and initial solid loadings at different locations in the three-phase bubble column. Furthermore, the local transient hydrodynamic characteristics, such as gas holdups, liquid velocities, and solid holdups, as well as gas bubble size distribution were predicted reasonably by the developed model for the dynamic behaviors of the three-phase bubble column. © 2007 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2007     

An optimization method for enhancement of gas–liquid mass transfer in a bubble column reactor based on the entropy generation extremum principle

In this study, an optimization method is proposed to enhance the gas–liquid mass transfer in bubble column reactor based on the entropy generation extremum principle. The mass transfer–induced entropy generation can be maximized with the increase of mass transfer rate, based on which the velocity field can be optimized. The oxygen gas–liquid mass transfer is the major rate–limiting step of the toluene emissions biodegradation process in bubble column reactor, so the entropy generation due to oxy...     

Experimental investigation on multiscale hydrodynamics in a novel gas–Liquid–Solid three phase jet-Loop reactor

Multiphase flow hydrodynamics in a novel gas–liquid–solid jet-loop reactor (JLR) were experimentally investigated at the macroscales and mesoscales. The chord length distribution was measured by an optical fiber probe and transformed for bubble size distribution through the maximum entropy method. The impacts of key operating conditions (superficial gas and liquid velocity, solid loading) on hydrodynamics at different axial and radial locations were comprehensively investigated. JLR was found to have good solid suspension ability owing to the internal circulation of bubbles and liquid flow. The gas holdup, axial liquid velocity, and bubble velocity increase with gas velocity, while liquid velocity has little influence on them. Compared with the gas–liquid JLRs, solids decrease the gas holdup and liquid circulation, reduces the bubble velocity and delays the flow development due to the enhanced interaction between bubbles and particles (Stokes number >1). This work also provides a benchmark data for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model validation. © 2019 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 65: e16537, 2019