초록
The effect of the flux patterns promoted by a reactor's impeller distribution on the biological hydrogen (bioH<SUB>2</SUB>) production by a microbial consortium was determined. The flux patterns were analyzed and characterized by the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD, ANSYSS Fluent 14.5). Two different mixing systems; predominantly axial (pitched blade PB4) or radial flow (Rushton) impellers were evaluated. Based on CFD results, four different impeller configurations were experimentally assessed to produce bioH<SUB>2</SUB>. The highest bioH<SUB>2</SUB> productivity of 440 mL/Lh was determined with PB4 impellers, under the best configuration. In the second-best configuration, also obtained with the PB4, a bioH<SUB>2</SUB> productivity of 407.94 mL/Lh was measured. The configurations based on Rushton impellers showed lower bioH<SUB>2</SUB> productivity (177.065 mL/Lh average). Therefore, the experiments where the axial pumping was favored showed the highest bioH<SUB>2</SUB> production as a consequence of the enhanced transfer of the bioH<SUB>2</SUB> from the liquid phase to the reactor headspace.