VALIDATION OF A MULTISUBSTRATE MATHEMATICAL-MODEL FOR THE SIMULATION OF THE DENITRIFICATION PROCESS IN FLUIDIZED-BED BIOFILM REACTORS

The present paper compares the experimental results obtained from a re search programme developed on a pilot-scale fluidized bed biofilm reac tor and the outputs of a numeric simulation model; the mathematical mo del can determine the substrate concentration profile within the react or. The experimental campaign investigated heterotrophic biological de nitrification in anoxic conditions. The model is based on multi-substr ate Michaelis-Menten kinetics and considers mass transport resistance p phenomena a within and outside bioparticles. A monodimensional model of the reactor taking into consideration, in steady-state condition, phenomena due to convective transport and turbulent diffusion has been used. The fluidization model applied to describe the behaviour of the biofilm-covered rigid particle bed is based on the Wen and Yu correla tion.