ON THE USE OF CIRCULATING FLOWS TO INCREASE THE PRODUCTION OF ANABAENA CYLINDRICA (ANABAENA CYLINDRICA, INTERMITTENT ILLUMINATION, BIOCHEMICAL REACTOR)
Abstract
A biochemical reactor was designed, constructed and operated to determine if circulating flows, used to induce intermittent illumination, resulted in increasing the production of Anabaena cylindrica. The reactor was operated in batch mode with recycle. The main body of the reactor is a rectangular channel with four sub-surface equilateral weirs mounted on the floor of the channel and spaced equidistantly along the length of the channel. Sub-surface equilateral weirs caused the development of circulating flows in the form of a pair of axial vortices. With culture concentrations high enough, the circulating flows caused the organism to experience intermittent illumination by transporting culture volumes from the dark depths of the illuminated surface. Equations were developed to model the growth of the organism in the reactor with and without circulating flows. Unknown constants in the equations describing growth with circulating flows were determined using a specially designed regression method. Predictions were made for growth without circulating flows using these conditions. Growing A. cylindrica in the reactor showed that the maximum observed specific growth rate with circulating flows was more than 100% greater than that predicted for growth without circulating flows. The maximum productivity observed was 150% greater than predicted for growth without circulating flows. This improvement in productivity remained near 150% for 100 hr.
Degree
Ph.D.
Subject Area
Chemical engineering
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