The Hydrodynamics of a Bubble Column Bioreactor with Oil-based Liquids: Experiments and CFD Simulation

摘要

The hydrodynamic of a bubble column bioreactor was investigated experimentally and simulated for different superficial gas velocities by 2- and 3-dimensional computational fluid dynamics models. The liquids were pure kerosene, pure diesel, water, and different water-in-diesel microemulsions, as sample solutions for petroleum biodesulfurization. Eulerian description and the standard k-e turbulency model were used for both gas and liquid phases. An increase in the viscosity of fluid and gas velocity in the bioreactor increases the difference between experimental data and simulated results due to the fact that the k-e model becomes less accurate when the turbulence increases.