Downscaling Industrial-Scale Syngas Fermentation to Simulate Frequent and Irregular Dissolved Gas Concentration Shocks
In large-scale syngas fermentation, strong gradients in dissolved gas (CO, H<sub>2</sub>) concentrations are very likely to occur due to locally varying mass transfer and convection rates. Using Euler-Lagrangian CFD simulations, we analyzed these gradients in an industrial-scale external...
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MDPI AG
2023-04-01
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| Series: | Bioengineering |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2306-5354/10/5/518 |
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| author | Lars Puiman Eduardo Almeida Benalcázar Cristian Picioreanu Henk J. Noorman Cees Haringa |
| author_facet | Lars Puiman Eduardo Almeida Benalcázar Cristian Picioreanu Henk J. Noorman Cees Haringa |
| author_sort | Lars Puiman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In large-scale syngas fermentation, strong gradients in dissolved gas (CO, H<sub>2</sub>) concentrations are very likely to occur due to locally varying mass transfer and convection rates. Using Euler-Lagrangian CFD simulations, we analyzed these gradients in an industrial-scale external-loop gas-lift reactor (EL-GLR) for a wide range of biomass concentrations, considering CO inhibition for both CO and H<sub>2</sub> uptake. Lifeline analyses showed that micro-organisms are likely to experience frequent (5 to 30 s) oscillations in dissolved gas concentrations with one order of magnitude. From the lifeline analyses, we developed a conceptual scale-down simulator (stirred-tank reactor with varying stirrer speed) to replicate industrial-scale environmental fluctuations at bench scale. The configuration of the scale-down simulator can be adjusted to match a broad range of environmental fluctuations. Our results suggest a preference for industrial operation at high biomass concentrations, as this would strongly reduce inhibitory effects, provide operational flexibility and enhance the product yield. The peaks in dissolved gas concentration were hypothesized to increase the syngas-to-ethanol yield due to the fast uptake mechanisms in <i>C. autoethanogenum</i>. The proposed scale-down simulator can be used to validate such results and to obtain data for parametrizing lumped kinetic metabolic models that describe such short-term responses. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T03:56:46Z |
| format | Article |
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| issn | 2306-5354 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T03:56:46Z |
| publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
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| series | Bioengineering |
| spelling | doaj.art-7d3c3eba44234ef59afb084466ee36782023-11-18T00:30:33ZengMDPI AGBioengineering2306-53542023-04-0110551810.3390/bioengineering10050518Downscaling Industrial-Scale Syngas Fermentation to Simulate Frequent and Irregular Dissolved Gas Concentration ShocksLars Puiman0Eduardo Almeida Benalcázar1Cristian Picioreanu2Henk J. Noorman3Cees Haringa4Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Delft University of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, 2629 Delft, The NetherlandsDepartment of Biotechnology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Delft University of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, 2629 Delft, The NetherlandsBiological and Environmental Science and Engineering, Water Desalination and Reuse Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi ArabiaDepartment of Biotechnology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Delft University of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, 2629 Delft, The NetherlandsDepartment of Biotechnology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Delft University of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, 2629 Delft, The NetherlandsIn large-scale syngas fermentation, strong gradients in dissolved gas (CO, H<sub>2</sub>) concentrations are very likely to occur due to locally varying mass transfer and convection rates. Using Euler-Lagrangian CFD simulations, we analyzed these gradients in an industrial-scale external-loop gas-lift reactor (EL-GLR) for a wide range of biomass concentrations, considering CO inhibition for both CO and H<sub>2</sub> uptake. Lifeline analyses showed that micro-organisms are likely to experience frequent (5 to 30 s) oscillations in dissolved gas concentrations with one order of magnitude. From the lifeline analyses, we developed a conceptual scale-down simulator (stirred-tank reactor with varying stirrer speed) to replicate industrial-scale environmental fluctuations at bench scale. The configuration of the scale-down simulator can be adjusted to match a broad range of environmental fluctuations. Our results suggest a preference for industrial operation at high biomass concentrations, as this would strongly reduce inhibitory effects, provide operational flexibility and enhance the product yield. The peaks in dissolved gas concentration were hypothesized to increase the syngas-to-ethanol yield due to the fast uptake mechanisms in <i>C. autoethanogenum</i>. The proposed scale-down simulator can be used to validate such results and to obtain data for parametrizing lumped kinetic metabolic models that describe such short-term responses.https://www.mdpi.com/2306-5354/10/5/518syngas fermentationscale-upscale-downEuler-LagrangeCFDindustrial |
| spellingShingle | Lars Puiman Eduardo Almeida Benalcázar Cristian Picioreanu Henk J. Noorman Cees Haringa Downscaling Industrial-Scale Syngas Fermentation to Simulate Frequent and Irregular Dissolved Gas Concentration Shocks Bioengineering syngas fermentation scale-up scale-down Euler-Lagrange CFD industrial |
| title | Downscaling Industrial-Scale Syngas Fermentation to Simulate Frequent and Irregular Dissolved Gas Concentration Shocks |
| title_full | Downscaling Industrial-Scale Syngas Fermentation to Simulate Frequent and Irregular Dissolved Gas Concentration Shocks |
| title_fullStr | Downscaling Industrial-Scale Syngas Fermentation to Simulate Frequent and Irregular Dissolved Gas Concentration Shocks |
| title_full_unstemmed | Downscaling Industrial-Scale Syngas Fermentation to Simulate Frequent and Irregular Dissolved Gas Concentration Shocks |
| title_short | Downscaling Industrial-Scale Syngas Fermentation to Simulate Frequent and Irregular Dissolved Gas Concentration Shocks |
| title_sort | downscaling industrial scale syngas fermentation to simulate frequent and irregular dissolved gas concentration shocks |
| topic | syngas fermentation scale-up scale-down Euler-Lagrange CFD industrial |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2306-5354/10/5/518 |
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