The emission rates of semivolatile organic compounds during surface ae
ration can be estimated from the oxygen mass-transfer coefficient K(L)
a(O2) and a modified coefficient PSI(M), which incorporates the fracti
on of liquid-phase mass-transfer resistance to total resistance. In or
der to verify this method, the mass-transfer coefficients for oxygen a
nd 20 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were simultaneously measured i
n a laboratory-scale surface-aerated reactor. Using these measurements
the ratios of gas-phase and liquid-phase mass-transfer coefficients w
ere determined by nonlinear regression. These ratios then were used to
estimate the fraction of liquid-phase resistance to total resistance.
The method was validated by excellent agreement between observation a
nd theory. The correlation between the ratios of gas- and liquid-phase
transfer coefficients and specific power input was also studied.