Hydrodynamic of Plant Bioreactor: Experimental Study of Permeability of Fixed Bed Composed of Soils and Pipe Packing

• Main Author: ABDUSSALAM (NIM :13013072) - KHARIS ADI RAHMANTO (NIM :13013066) , HIFDHI
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/22823
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

The need for crop products in the world is increasing every year as a result of population increase. Agricultural intensification method is able to increase crop production by maximizing existing land use. Intensification of agriculture relied upon addition of plant life space called plant bioreactor as a place of independent production of plant nutrition with production on demand mechanism. Plant bioreactor can be modelled as fixed bed composed of soils and pipe packing. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The objectives of this study were to determine the effect of variation of the composition of the bed and pore size to the porosity of the bed, the liquid hold up capacity of the bed, and the permeability of the bed, and also to develop a mathematical model of water flow permeability in the plant bioreactor as a correction of the Kozeny-Carman equation using Darcy equation. The variation used is bed consisting of pipe packing and 4-8 mesh soils, 8-14 mesh soils, and 14-20 mesh soils with variation of pipe packing:soils composition of 1:0, 3:1, 1:1, 1:3, and 0:1 volume/volume. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Based on the results of the experiment it can be concluded that the higher the pipe packing composition in the bed, the higher the porosity of the bed, but less fluid hold up, and increased fluid permeability in the bed. While the smaller the particle size of the constituent, the higher the porosity of the bed, more fluid hold up, and increased fluid permeability. The Kozeny-Carman equation needs to be corrected by the multiplier factor A = 0.0007.x-2,132 with x being the particle size in meters.