V. Ravindran et al., MODELING OF BIOACTIVE CARBON ADSORBERS - A HYBRID WEIGHTED RESIDUAL-FINITE DIFFERENCE NUMERICAL TECHNIQUE, Applied mathematics and computation, 76(2-3), 1996, pp. 99-131
Phenomenological mathematical models incorporating adsorption, mass tr
ansfer, and biofilm degradation were developed for performance predict
ion/simulation of bioactive carbon fixed-bed and fluidized-bed adsorbe
rs in wastewater treatment. The model equations were solved by a numer
ical technique combining a weighted residual technique such as orthogo
nal collocation with finite difference method. This hybrid technique w
as numerically consistent and stable and provided accurate solutions a
t computing times lower than those corresponding to pure orthogonal co
llocation. The bioadsorber model parameters were independently determi
ned from carefully designed laboratory-scale experiments and correlati
ons. The model predictions of bioadsorber effluent concentration profi
les were in strong agreement with the experimental data, illustrating
the good predictive capability of the model. Sensitivity studies were
performed to identify the influence of model parameters on the bioacti
ve adsorber dynamics.