Effect of Air Injector on the Performance of an Air-lift for Conveying River Sand

An air-lift has been more recently applied in the dredging, deep-seated beach placer mining and underground mining engineering. However, the influence and mechanism of various parameters on the air-lift performance are not quite clear, especially the influence of flow pattern on lifting efficiency. Focusing on the problems mentioned above, the key part of the air-lift （namely, the air injector） was proposed aimed to reduce friction loss in the inner pipe according to improving flow field performance, thus increase the lifting efficiency. The study of relative factors of the performance of an air-lift is performed and the river sand is used as simulation of underground ore bed. The total lifting height of the experimental system is 3 m, the water flux, mass flow of solid particles, concentration of particles and lifting efficiency are measured under the same submergence ratios by changing the air injector, which is divided into nine specifications of air injection in this research. The experimental results indicate that the optimal air flow rate corresponding to excellent performance of the air-lift can be obtained in the range of 35-40 m3/h. The air injection method has a great effect on the performance of the air-lift, the air injector with three nozzles is better than that in the case of one or two nozzles. Further more, the air injection angle and arrangement of air injection pipes also have great effect on the performance of an air-lift. The proposed research results have guiding significance for engineering application.

Liquid Circulation in a Multi-tube Air-lift Loop Reactor

A multi-tube air-lift loop reactor (MT-ALR) is presented in this paper. Based on the energy conservation, a mathematical model describing the liquid circulation flow rate was developed, which was determined by gas velocity, the cross areas of riser and downcomer, gas hold-up and the local frictional loss coefficient. The experimental data indicate that either increase of gas flow rate or reduction of the downcomer diameter contributes to higher liquid circulation rate. The correlation between total and the local frictional loss coefficients was also established.Effects of gas flowrate in two risers and diameter of downcomer on the liquid circulation rate were examined. The value of total frictional loss coefficient was measured as a function of the cross area of downcomer and independent of the gas flow rate. The calculated results of liquid circulation rates agreed well with the experimental data with an average relative error of 9.6%.

Feasibility Study on Lifting of Seabed Materials Using a Bubble-Jet-Type Air-Lift Pump

The present study is concerned with the lifting of seabed materials by a BJT （bubble-jet-type） air-lift pump patented by Sadatomi. The targets are methane-hydrate rich muds on the bed about 200 m in depth around Japan islands and rare-earth rich muds on the bed deeper than 4,000 m around Minami-Torishima islands in the Pacific Ocean. Feasibility studies were conducted using 50 mm I. D. （inner diameter） and 5.0 m long vertical pipe as the pump upriser, VC （vinyl chloride） particles and natural sands mixture in the methane-hydrate case, and ceramics particles with 3,761 kg/m^3 in density in the rare-earth case as the deposits. From the methane-hydrate simulation experiments, an efficient operation condition with high VC particles to sands lifting ratio has been clarified. In the rare-earth case, the air supplies from two different midways in the upriser pipe have been tested together with the bottom supply because the air supply from the upriser bottom is very hard in deep sea. The effects of the air supply position on the pump performance have been clarified by the experiments and the simulations with a revised model applicable to the midway air supply type.

螺旋藻培养条件响应面法优化的研究

本研究设计了用于螺旋藻培养的新型气升式光生物反应器,并用响应曲面法对其培养条件进行优化。试验选取影响螺旋藻生长的四个关键因素即光照强度、通气量、培养时间和接种量,并对其最佳水平范围进行研究,建立了以藻体干重为响应值的二次多项式方程。试验结果表明,四个因素对藻体生长的影响大小依次为光照强度、培养时间、装液量、通气量;对方程解逆矩阵可知,当光照强度、通气量、培养时间和接种量分别达最佳水平4400lx、212.2L/h、8.8d和7.2L时,DW最大值为1.277g/L。

Enhanced biological nutrient removal by the alliance of a heterotrophic nitrifying strain with a nitrogen removing ecosystem

Nitrogen removal from synthetic wastewater was investigated in an airlift bioreactor （ALB）, augmented with a novel heterotrophic nitrifier Pseudonocardia ammonioxydans H9^T under organic carbon to nitrogen ratios （Corg/N） ranging from 0 to 12. Effect of the inoculated strain was also determined on the settling properties and the removal of chemical oxygen demand （COD）. Two laboratory scale reactors were set up to achieve a stable nitrifying state under the same physicochemical conditions of hydraulic retention time （HRT）, temperature, pH and dissolved oxygen （DO）, and operated under the sequencing batch mode. The level of DO was kept at 0.5- 1.5 mg/L by periodic stirring and aeration. Each specific Corg/N ratio was continued for duration of 3 weeks. One of the reactors （BR2） was inoculated with P ammonioxydans H9^T periodically at the start of each Corg/N ratio. Sludge volumetric index （SVI） improved with the increasing Corg/N ratio, but no significant difference was detected between the two reactors. BR2 showed higher levels of nitrogen removal with the increasing heterotrophic conditions, and the ammonia removal reached to the level of 82%-88%, up to10% higher than that in the control reactor （BR1） at Corg/N ratios higher than 6; however, the ammonia removal level in experimental reactor was up to 8% lower than that in control reactor at Corg/N ratios lower than 2. The COD removal efficiency progressively increased with the increasing Corg/N ratios in both of the reactors. The COD removal percentage up to peak values of 88%-94% in BR2, up to 11% higher than that in BR1 at Corg/N ratio higher than 4. The peak values of ammonia and COD removal almost coincided with the highest number （18%-27% to total bacterial number） of the exogenous bacterium in the BR2, detected as colony forming units （CFU）. Furthermore, the removal of ammonia and COD in BR2 was closely related to the number of the inoculated strain with a coefficient index （R2） up to 0.82 and 0.85 for ammonia and COD, respectively. These results suggest that it was more efficient for both the ammonia and carbon nutrient removals in a reactor inoculated with a heterotrophic nitrifier at high Corg/N ratio, inferring that the heterotrophic nitrifers would be practically more available in the treatment of wastewater with high level of ammonia and COD.

Influence of Osmoregulators on Osmotolerant Yeast Candida krusei for the Production of Glycerol

Candida krusei was osmotolerant yeast for the production of glycerol. Extracellular osmotic pressure was one of the key factors to induce the enzyme activity of glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase（GPDH） which severely affected the glycerol productivity. Three osmoregulators such as NaCl, PEG4000 and glycerol were used to investigate their effects on yeast growth, glucose consumption and glycerol production. In order to determine the effect of extracellular glycerol concentration, different amounts of glycerol were initially supplemented as an osmoregulator to increase glycerol production. The maximum glycerol concentration attained 179g·L^-1 with initial glycerol concentration of 80g·L^-1 in medium, compared with 41g·L^-1 in the control experiment. These results were successfully reoroduced for fed-batch orocess in an air-lift reactor.

Influence of Osmoregulators on Osmotolerant Yeast Candida krusei for the Production of Glycerol

Candida krusei was osmotolerant yeast for the production of glycerol. Extracellular osmotic pressure was one of the key factors to induce the enzyme activity of glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase(GPDH) which se- verely affected the glycerol productivity. Three osmoregulators such as NaCl, PEG4000 and glycerol were used to investigate their effects on yeast growth, glucose consumption and glycerol production. In order to determine the effect of extracellular glycerol concentration, different amounts of glycerol were initially supplemented as an os- moregulator to increase glycerol production. The maximum glycerol concentration attained 179g L-1 with initial glycerol concentration of 80g L-1 in medium, compared with 41g L-1 in the control experiment. These results were successfully reproduced for fed-batch process in an air-lift reactor.

Study on improving performance of airlift device by sell'excited oscillation pulsed jet used in mining under water

The feasibility of the nozzle of self-excited oscillation pulsed jet (SEOPJ) as the breaker and loosing device for the air-lift pump was researched.The dynamic characteris- tics of the SEOPJ to crush the hard clay and loose the layer of ore deposit were explored experimentally under the submerged condition.The results show that the SEOPJ not only effectively breaks the hard clay or loose the particles of sand on the placer bed,but also produces fluctuating uplift force acting on particles of sand.The oscillating cross flow caused by the SEOPJ makes particles of sand move to the end of the suction pipe easily. Energy efficency of the airlift and concentration of the solids for the solid-liquid mixture sucked by the air-lift pump are increased obviously with the breaker of SEOPJ.

CFD modeling and experiment of heat transfer in a tubular photo-bioreactor for photo-fermentation bio-hydrogen production

Temperature is one of the most important parameters that need to be controlled in photo-fermentation bio-hydrogen production(PFHP)system.Since the high temperature and big temperature fluctuation have adverse impacts on bio-hydrogen yield,the system numerical simulation based on the operating conditions and environmental factors is desirable.This research focused on the investigation of heat transfer properties of the PFHP system.Enzymatic hydrolysate from agricultural residues was taken as substrate,and up-flow tubular photo-bioreactor was adopted for PFHP.Temperatures inside the photo-bioreactor were monitored.The experimental design and computational modeling for the determination of the heat transfer behavior in tubular photo-bioreactor was presented.Energy balance analysis was conducted to determine the energy efficiency,and optimize the operation parameters in order to obtain higher energy efficiency.The commercial software FLUENT was also adopted in order to predict the transient temperature distribution in the photo-bioreactor.The results showed that mathematical and computational modeling method has a clear potential for improving the performance of photo-bioreactor in the process of PFHP.Up-flow tubular bioreactor has tiny temperature fluctuant,and is suitable for PFHP.

螺旋藻培养条件响应面法优化的研究

设计了用于螺旋藻培养的新型气升式光生物反应器，并用响应曲面法对其培养条件进行优化。实验选取影响螺旋藻生长的4个关键因子即光照强度、通气量、培养时间和接种量，并对其最佳水平范围进行研究，建立了以藻体干重为响应值的二次多项式方程。实验结果表明，4个因子对藻体生长的影响大小依次为光照强度、培养时间、装液量、通气量；对方程解逆矩阵可知，当光照强度、通气量、培养时闻和接种量分别达最佳水平44001x、212．2L／h、8．8d和7．2L时，DW最大值为1．277g／L。

Research progress in artificial upwelling and its potential environmental effects

Artificial upwelling, as a geoengineering tool, has received worldwide attention because it may actualize ocean fertilization in a sustainable way, which could potentially alleviate the pressures on the fish stocks and human-driven climate change in the ocean. We reviewed the current knowledge on the development of an artificial upwelling system and its potential environmental effects. Special attention was given to the research progress on the air-lift concept artificial upwelling by Zhejiang University. The research on artificial upwelling over the past few decades has generated a range of devices that have been successfully applied in the field for months. Based on field experiments and the associated modeling results, part of them reported positive effects on increasing primary production and enhancing CO2 sequestration. However, as a significant disturbance to the environment, especially for large-scale applications, the uncertainties related to the potential effects on ecosystem remain unsolved. Zhejiang University has overcome the technical challenges in designing and fabricating a robust and high efficiency artificial upwelling device which has been examined in two field experiments in Qiandao Lake and one sea trial in the East China Sea. It was investigated that cold and hypoxic deep ocean water(DOW) could be uplifted to the euphotic layer, which could potentially change the nutrient distribution and adjust the N/P ratio. Both simulation and field experiments results confirmed that utilizing self-powered energy to inject compressed air to uplift DOW was a valid and efficient method. Therefore, further field-based research on artificial upwelling, especially for long-term field research is required to test the scientific hypothesis.