title: Comparison of two mathematical models for correlating the organic matter removal efficiency with hydraulic retention time in a hybrid anaerobic baffled reactor treating molasses.
abstract: A modelling of the anaerobic digestion process of molasses was conducted in a 70-L multistage anaerobic biofilm reactor or hybrid anaerobic baffled reactor with six compartments at an operating temperature of 26 °C. Five hydraulic retention times (6, 16, 24, 72 and 120 h) were studied at a constant influent COD concentration of 10,000 mg/L. Two different kinetic models (one was based on a dispersion model with first-order kinetics for substrate consumption and the other based on a modification of the Young equation) were evaluated and compared to predict the organic matter removal efficiency or fractional conversion. The first-order kinetic constant obtained with the dispersion model was 0.28 h(-1), the Peclet dispersion number being 45, with a mean relative error of 2%. The model based on the Young equation predicted the behaviour of the reactor more accurately showing deviations lower than 10% between the theoretical and experimental values of the fractional conversion, the mean relative error being 0.9% in this case.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghaniyari-Benis
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martín
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Borja
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Martín
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hedayat
mesh_terms: D000693:Anaerobiosis; D019149:Bioreactors; D007700:Kinetics; D008954:Models, Biological; D008965:Molasses