Abstract
Raceway ponds are widely used in commercial production of algal biomass. They are effective and inexpensive, but suffer from a relatively low productivity and vagaries of weather. This chapter discusses design and operation of raceways for large-scale production of algal biomass.
Keywords
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- A :
-
Surface area of raceway (m2)
- C x :
-
Biomass concentration (kg m−3)
- D :
-
Dilution rate (h−1)
- d h :
-
Hydraulic diameter of flow channel (m)
- e :
-
Efficiency of the motor, drive, and the paddlewheel
- f M :
-
Manning channel roughness factor (s m−1/3)
- g :
-
Gravitational acceleration (9.81 m s−2)
- h :
-
Culture depth in pond (m)
- I L :
-
Local irradiance at depth L (μE m−2 s−1)
- I o :
-
Incident irradiance on the surface of the pond (μE m−2 s−1)
- K a :
-
Light absorption coefficient of the biomass (μE m−2 s−1)
- K i :
-
Photoinhibition constant (μE m−2 s−1)
- K L :
-
Light saturation constant (μE m−2 s−1)
- L :
-
Depth (m)
- L r :
-
Total length of the flow loop (m)
- l c :
-
Depth at which the local irradiance level is at the light compensation point (m)
- P :
-
Power requirement for paddlewheel (W)
- PAR:
-
Photosynthetically active radiation
- P a :
-
Areal productivity of biomass (kg m−2 d−1)
- PVC:
-
Polyvinyl chloride
- P v :
-
Volumetric biomass productivity (kg m−3 d−1)
- p :
-
Length as shown in Fig. 1 (length of pond) (m)
- Q f :
-
Feed flow rate (m3 h−1)
- q :
-
Length as shown in Fig. 1 (width of pond) (m)
- Re :
-
Reynolds number defined by Eq. (3)
- Δt :
-
Time interval (d)
- u :
-
Flow velocity in channel (m s−1)
- V L :
-
Working volume of the raceway (m3)
- w :
-
Channel width (m)
- X f :
-
Peak concentration of biomass (kg m−3)
- X i :
-
Initial concentration of the biomass (kg m−3)
- x b :
-
Pseudo steady state biomass concentration in the pond (kg m−3)
- μ :
-
Viscosity of the algal broth (Pa s)
- μ av :
-
Depth-averaged specific growth rate in the illuminated volume (d−1)
- μ L :
-
Local specific growth rate at depth L (d−1)
- μ max :
-
Maximum specific growth rate (d−1)
- ρ :
-
Density of algal broth (kg m−3)
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Chisti, Y. (2016). Large-Scale Production of Algal Biomass: Raceway Ponds. In: Bux, F., Chisti, Y. (eds) Algae Biotechnology. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12334-9_2
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