Numerical simulation of transient radial temperature distribution in rotating drum bioreactor for solid state fermentation

Solid-state fermentation (SSF) has received more and more attention and been applied to produce many kinds of chemicals in recent years, especially in the field of biofuel. The major problems to overcome in large-scale application of SSF are heat accumulation and heterogeneous distribution in this complex gas-liquid-solid multiphase bioreactor (or fermentor) system. In this work, a mathematical model of a rotating drum bioreactor for solid state anaerobic fermentation was developed which consider the transient radial temperature distribution in the substrate bed. Corresponding partial differential equations were solved using the finite volume method (FVM). Validation experiments were conducted in a 50L rotating drum fermentor. Simulation results could agree well with the experimental data. From these results, it was concluded that the mathematical model developed is a powerful tool to investigate design and scale-up of anaerobic SSF fermentors.