| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2775 | Biochemical Engineering Journal | 2016 | 5 Pages |
•On-site rheological measurement method was proposed for high lignocellulose solids content hydrolysate.•Rheological parameters and the evolution of high lignocellulose solids content hydrolysis were measured.•CFD model for hydrolysis reactors was established and the reactor structures were optimized.
Hydrolysis of lignocellulose at high solids content is the prerequisite condition to obtain high ethanol titer broth and reduce the distillation cost. Design of large scale bioreactors requires the determination of rheological properties of the hydrolysate, but regular rheometers are no longer applicable to high solids content hydrolysate feedstocks. This study reported an on-site method using the torque meter equipped on hydrolysis reactors for its rheological property measurement. The measured torque data were transformed into the apparent viscosity and then the rheological parameters of the power law model after correlation. The determined parameters were applied to develop the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model for simulating mixing efficiency and power consumption. This study provided a practical method for measurement of rheological parameters and design of optimal structure of large scale bioreactors of high solids content hydrolysis system.
