PREDICTIVE MODELING FOR BIOACTIVE FLUIDIZED-BED AND STATIONARY BED REACTORS - APPLICATION TO DAIRY WASTE-WATER

Bioadsorber models were formulated, and a systematic protocol was deve loped for adsorber modeling and design. These models were used for for ecasting the performance of bioactive and non bioactive reactors in tw o configurations: fluidized bed reactor (with effluent recycle), and s tationary bed reactor. The models incorporated important phenomena ass ociated with adsorption and biofilm degradation, and used total organi c carbon (TOC) as a lumped parameter for measuring the wastewater stre ngth. The protocol could be easily applied to bioactive reactors with non-adsorbing media such as sand, polymers and glass. The protocol inc luded the development of experimental techniques for evaluating model parameters. Laboratory-scale adsorption equilibrium and rate studies w ere conducted to evaluate the equilibrium and mass-transfer parameters , respectively. Biokinetic experiments were performed to determine the biodegradation parameters including kinetic coefficients for biologic al growth and decay, and the yield coefficient. Adsorption and biodegr adation parameters were subsequently used as model inputs for predicti ng the dynamics of bioactive reactors. Laboratory-scale adsorber colum n studies for model verification indicated the good predictive capabil ity of the models for bioactive and non bioactive reactors.