Case Studies in Thermal Engineering (Nov 2023)
Enhanced thermal and mass transfer of harnessing microbial mediation in electrically conducting Oldroyd-B nanofluid flow: Eukaryotes microorganisms in biological applications
Abstract
In bioremediation, pollutants are broken down or detached from an atmosphere using microorganisms like bacteria or fungus. These bacteria can either ingest contaminants or be enzymatically converted into innocuous molecules. Bioremediation can be enhanced by several techniques, such as bioaugmentation (the introduction of specific microorganisms), biostimulator (the provision of nutrients to stimulate microbial activity), and bioventing (the provision of air or oxygen to encourage microbial growth). The creation and dissipation of heat in a convective non-Newtonian Oldroyd-B fluid flow across a nonlinear stretching sheet in a three-dimensional boundary layer is examined in this study. The boundary layer flow's highly nonlinear partial differential equations are transformed into ordinary differential equations in the study via similarity transformations. The bvp4c technique of MATLAB is then used to resolve these equations. The study looks at some variables, including as temperature, concentration, the presence of microorganisms, velocity, heat transfer rate, and shear stress. These parameters are evaluated graphically and presented in tabular form, with a focus on the local Deborah numbers (β₁ and β₂), the local buoyancy parameters (λ₁ and λ₂), the Prandtl number (Pr), the Schmidt number (Sc), the Bio-convection Schmidt number (Sb), and the Peclet number (Pe). The results show that raising the local buoyancy parameter improves the boundary layer flow's velocity field and rate of heat transfer. Visual representations of the effects of non-dimensional factors on non-dimensional velocity, concentration, motile microorganism, and temperature profiles help to comprehend the underlying physical properties clearly.
