(258f) An Integrated Computational Fluid Dynamics Model to Simulate the Productivity of Industrial Scale Algae Raceway Ponds

Minimizing the issues attachment due to poor flow conditions can have significantly negative impacts associated with the scale-up of microalgal growth systems is a necessary part of making microalgal biodiesel production a sustainable process. Self-shading caused by high cell concentration and biomass during commercial production. Through the simulation of algae growth with a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model, process optimization can be performed while reducing the costs and efforts in operating an actual commercial growth system. The aim of this study is to integrate physical, thermochemical, and biological effects to predict the space- and time- dependent algal growth in industrial scale raceway ponds. A commercial CFD software, ANSYS-Fluent is used to solve the proposed model in regards to fluid flow, heat transfer, and also nutrient balance. Simulated results are compared with the distributions of light intensity, temperature, nutrient concentration, and algal biomass acquired from four industrial scale raceway ponds constructed for the growth of Nannochloropsis salina.