AN INTEGRATED MODELING OF STOICHIOMETRY AND BIOKINETICS OF ANAEROBIC PROCESSES

The objective of this paper was to present an integrated modeling appr oach to biokinetics and stoichiometry of anaerobic treatment processes . A software system has been developed to calculate bacterial yield co efficients from stoichiometry under different anaerobic bioprocess con ditions. Kinetic constants, i.e., the reaction rate constant and Monod half-velocity coefficient, were determined from batch experimental da ta using Conreg, a software system for constrained nonlinear regressio n. Additional experiments were performed to evaluate the usefulness of the Inhibition Coefficient model to predict toxicity of ammonia and m ethylene chloride in anaerobic batch systems. The integrated approach to biokinetics and stoichiometry and the software developed for this p urpose should help engineers quickly evaluate a wide variety of design options for anaerobic treatment systems under both toxic and non-toxi c conditions. Other useful applications include prediction of natural rates of methane (a gas causing global warming) formation in rice padd ies.