THESIS
2018
xvii, 179 pages : illustrations ; 30 cm
Abstract
Depletion of fossil fuels and environmental pollution are pushing researchers to find
alternatives for sustainable productions. Among the numerous renewable resources under
investigation, microalgae are particularly motivating because of their variety and their possible
application in several sectors (e.g. energy, fine chemicals, food, depuration, etc.).
In this thesis we investigate the production of microalgae in different environmental conditions.
The focus goes in particular to the cellular growth inside the photobioreactor and to the
sedimentation and centrifugation in the harvesting unit.
We propose a model to determine the growth of microalgae as function of the environmental
conditions by using the population balance equation (PBE). The model determines certain
paramete...[
Read more ]
Depletion of fossil fuels and environmental pollution are pushing researchers to find
alternatives for sustainable productions. Among the numerous renewable resources under
investigation, microalgae are particularly motivating because of their variety and their possible
application in several sectors (e.g. energy, fine chemicals, food, depuration, etc.).
In this thesis we investigate the production of microalgae in different environmental conditions.
The focus goes in particular to the cellular growth inside the photobioreactor and to the
sedimentation and centrifugation in the harvesting unit.
We propose a model to determine the growth of microalgae as function of the environmental
conditions by using the population balance equation (PBE). The model determines certain
parameters which are difficult to obtain experimentally, such as size-dependent growth rate and
division rate. A novel numerical model for the solution of such kind of equation (PBE) has also
been proposed to avoid numerical diffusion and/or dispersion. Furthermore, to emphasize the
versatility of the population balance equation, sedimentation and centrifugation of cells in the
harvesting process are investigated. The sedimentation problem is then utilized to back
calculate the density of microalgae cells. Experiments are performed to verify the reliability of
the growth and harvesting models. Besides, some experimental developments are included,
with the objective to make the measurements easier and more reliable at the same time. Finally,
some considerations are made on a microalgae production process, which includes the
photobioreactor and the sedimentation tank.
Post a Comment