Significance of fluid regime and wetted area in biofilm reactors.
Mass transfer within microbial films was described using Monod-type biological kinetics in terms of properties of filter media and feed solution. The performance characteristics of a trickling filter were thus modeled. The model enables one to consider the effect of inlet substrate concentration and flow rate upon the removal efficiency. For this purpose a second-order partial differential equation describing the dispersion phenomena inside the liquid layer was solved under special boundary conditions and used to determine substrate flux into the biofilm. A uniform biofilm thickness was considered. The model is based on computer techniques and the numerical evaluation of the normalized biofilm mathematical model. A design procedure was also given to calculate biological filters. The numerical model was also applied to experimental data to demonstrate its validity.
Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Istanbul, Turkey.
Yilmaz
Y
Muslu
D018441:Biofilms; D019149:Bioreactors; D015233:Models, Statistical