Optimize Flue Gas Settings to Promote Microalgae Growth in Photobioreactors via Computer SimulationsLian He 1, Amelia B Chen 1,2, Yi Yu 2, Leah Kucera 3, Yinjie Tang 1
1Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, 2School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Wuhan University of China, 3Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis
Flue gas from power plants is a cheap CO2 source for algal growth. We have built prototype "flue gas to algal cultivation" systems and described how to scale up the algal cultivation process. We have demonstrated the use of a mass-transfer bio-reaction model to simulate and to design the optimal operation of flue gas for the growth of Chlorella sp. in algal photo-bioreactors.
