title: Mass transfer studies on the biodegradation of phenols in up-flow packed bed reactors.
abstract: A quantitative analysis of the effect of mass transfer coefficients on the operating parameters namely, flow rate, bed height, particle and column diameter, voidage and initial concentration of phenols, etc. is carried out for the biodegradation of phenols in an up-flow packed bed reactor. A mass transfer correlation of the type, j(D)=K (Re')(n-1) is developed to represent the present experimental data obtained using activated carbon-Pseudomonas pictorum-alginate, celite-P. pictorum-alginate and P. pictorum-alginate beads for the continuous biodegradation of phenol. The overall reaction rate was found to be of the first order with the mass transfer as the rate-limiting step. For mass transfer with biochemical reaction, a correlation of experiment with theory is made. A realistic estimate of the effects of external mass transfer coefficients is also made in this present work.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Alagappa College of Technology, Anna University, Chennai 600025, India.
authors.forename: R Y
authors.initials: RY
authors.lastname: Sheeja
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murugesan
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D019149:Bioreactors; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010636:Phenols / Q000378:metabolism*; D011549:Pseudomonas / Q000502:physiology; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D014872:Water Movements
chemical_list: D010636:Phenols