Development and performance of an alternative biofilter system

Step tracer tests were carried out on lab-scale biofilters to determine the residence time distributions (RTDs) of gases passing through two types of biofilters: a standard biofilter with vertical gas flow and a modified biofilter with horizontal gas flow. Results were used to define the flow patterns in the reactors. "Non-ideal flow" indicates that the flow reactors did not behave like either type of ideal reactor: the perfectly stirred reactor [often called a "continuously stirred tank reactor" (CSTR)] or the plug-flow reactor. The horizontal biofilter with back-mixing was able to accommodate a shorter residence time without the usual requirement of greater biofilter surface area for increased biofiltration efficiency. Experimental results indicated that the first bed of the modified biofilter behaved like two CSTRs in series, while the second bed may be represented by two or three CSTRs in series. Because of the flow baffles used in the horizontal biofilter system, its performance was more similar to completely mixed systems, and hence, it could not be modeled as a plug-flow reactor. For the standard biofilter, the number of CSTRs was found to be between 2 and 9 depending on the airflow rate. In terms of NH3 removal efficiency and elimination capacity, the standard biofilter was not as good as the modified system; moreover, the second bed of the modified biofilter exhibited greater removal efficiency than the first bed. The elimination rate increased as biofilter load increased. An opposite trend was exhibited with respect to removal efficiency.     

Control of Organic Emissions from Surface Coating Operations

ABSTRACT

Step tracer tests were carried out on lab-scale biofilters to determine the residence time distributions (RTDs) of gases passing through two types of biofilters: a standard biofilter with vertical gas flow and a modified biofilter with horizontal gas flow. Results were used to define the flow patterns in the reactors. “Non-ideal flow” indicates that the flow reactors did not behave like either type of ideal reactor: the perfectly stirred reactor [often called a "continuously stirred tank reactor" (CSTR)] or the plug-flow reactor.

The horizontal biofilter with back-mixing was able to accommodate a shorter residence time without the usual requirement of greater biofilter surface area for increased biofiltration efficiency. Experimental results indicated that the first bed of the modified biofilter behaved like two CSTRs in series, while the second bed may be represented by two or three CSTRs in series. Because of the flow baffles used in the horizontal biofilter system, its performance was more similar to completely mixed systems, and hence, it could not be modeled as a plug-flow reactor. For the standard biofilter, the number of CSTRs was found to be between 2 and 9 depending on the airflow rate. In terms of NH₃ removal efficiency and elimination capacity, the standard biofilter was not as good as the modified system; moreover, the second bed of the modified biofilter exhibited greater removal efficiency than the first bed. The elimination rate increased as biofilter load increased. An opposite trend was exhibited with respect to removal efficiency.     

Heat transfer analysis of cylindrical anaerobic reactors with different sizes: a heat transfer model

The temperature is the essential factor that influences the efficiency of anaerobic reactors. During the operation of the anaerobic reactor, the fluctuations of ambient temperature can cause a change in the internal temperature of the reactor. Therefore, insulation and heating measures are often used to maintain anaerobic reactor’s internal temperature. In this paper, a simplified heat transfer model was developed to study heat transfer between cylindrical anaerobic reactors and their surroundings. Three cylindrical reactors of different sizes were studied, and the internal relations between ambient temperature, thickness of insulation, and temperature fluctuations of the reactors were obtained at different reactor sizes. The model was calibrated by a sensitivity analysis, and the calibrated model was well able to predict reactor temperature. The Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient was used to assess the predictive power of heat transfer models. The Nash coefficients of the three reactors were 0.76, 0.60, and 0.45, respectively. The model can provide reference for the thermal insulation design of cylindrical anaerobic reactors.     

An improved model for analyzing the performance of photocatalytic oxidation reactors in removing volatile organic compounds and its application

An improved photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) reactor model was developed to analyze the removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in indoor air. One new parameter, the average total removing factor Kt, together with the other two parameters, the number of mass transfer units NTUm and the fractional conversion epsilon, are found to be the main parameters influencing the photooxidation performance of PCO reactors. Three new parameters, the ideal reaction number of mass transfer units, NTUm,ir; the ideal reaction fractional conversion, epsilonir; and the reaction effectiveness, eta, also are defined. These concepts are helpful to the structural design and optimization for PCO reactors. The application of the model in designing a plate-type PCO reactor is demonstrated. This study shows that the present model is an effective tool for designing PCO reactors and for evaluating VOC removal performance of available PCO reactors.     

Development of a continuously stirred flow cell for investigating sorption mass transfer

This paper introduces a new reversible-flow design for a continuously stirred reactor used to study sorption mass transfer in soil and solvent systems. The stirred reactor has potential advantages over conventional packed column or batch reactors because it isolates intraparticle sorption rate limitations from advective-dispersive transport, yet allows changes to flux through the reactor for analysis of sorption kinetics under dynamic conditions. Previously, stirred reactors have often failed due to clogging of sediment on the effluent frit. The reverse-flow backwashing design allows longer life and higher confidence in maintaining mixed conditions than previous designs. Mass transfer 'rate coefficients estimated from stirred and column experiments are compared; both techniques produced results consistent with a published correlation. The data also show that fitted sorption mass transfer coefficients can be strongly dependent on the choice of equilibrium partition coefficient (i.e. batch or first-moment derived values), and that the conventional two-site sorption kinetics model fails to accurately predict sorption mass transfer in the presence of changing solvent velocity through the reactor.     

An Improved Model for Analyzing the Performance of Photocatalytic Oxidation Reactors in Removing Volatile Organic Compounds and Its Application

Abstract

An improved photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) reactor model was developed to analyze the removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in indoor air. One new parameter, the average total removing factor K _t, together with the other two parameters, the number of mass transfer units NTU_m and the fractional conversion e, are found to be the main parameters influencing the photooxidation performance of PCO reactors. Three new parameters, the ideal reaction number of mass transfer units, NTU_m,ir; the ideal reaction fractional conversion, ε_ir; and the reaction effectiveness, η, also are defined. These concepts are helpful to the structural design and optimization for PCO reactors. The application of the model in designing a plate-type PCO reactor is demonstrated. This study shows that the present model is an effective tool for designing PCO reactors and for evaluating VOC removal performance of available PCO reactors.     

SBR法的特点及其在生物脱氮中的应用

SBR兼有全混合反应器与推流式反应器的优点，物料混合均匀，耐冲击负荷，不存在物料返混，生化反应动力大，处理好，SBR法的整个过程可放置于一个构筑物内完成，工艺简单，操作灵活，此外，通过对SBR的适当调控，易形成好氧／缺氧交替的环境，为生物脱氮创造条件，近年来，SBR法得到了较大的发展，操作方式也得很大的改进。     

Monte Carlo analysis of field water flow comparing uni- and bimodal effective hydraulic parameters for structured soil

Soil structure critically affects the hydrological behaviour of soils. In this paper, we examined the impact of areal heterogeneity of hydraulic properties of a structured soil on soil ensemble behaviour for various soil water flow processes with different top boundary conditions (redistribution and drainage plus evaporation and infiltration). Using a numerical solution of the Richards' equation in a stochastic framework, the ensemble characteristics and flow dynamics were studied for drying and wetting processes observed during a time interval of ten days when a series of relatively intense rainfall events occurred. The effects of using unimodal and bimodal interpretative models of hydraulic properties on the ensemble hydrological behaviour of the soil were illustrated by comparing predictions to mean water contents measured over time in several sites at field scale. Although the differences between unimodal and bimodal fitting are not significant in terms of goodness of fit, the differences in process predictions are considerable with the bimodal soil simulating water content measurements much better than unimodal soil. We also investigated the relative contribution of the soil variability of each parameter on the variance of the water contents obtained as the main output of the stochastic simulations. The variability of the structural parameter, weighting the two pore space fractions in the bimodal interpretative model, has the largest contribution to water content variance. The contribution of each parameter depends only partly on the coefficient of variation, much more on the sensitivity of the model to the parameters and on the flow process being observed. We observed that the contribution of the retention parameters to uncertainty increases during drainage processes; the opposite occurs with the hydraulic conductivity parameters.     

Applications of two-phase anaerobic degradation in industrial wastewater treatment

Prospects for the phased anaerobic treatment of wastewater are extremely promising. With the variety of reactor designs available and the amenability of reactors to modification, existing treatment systems may be replaced or upgraded as required to achieve increased stability, higher loading capacities and greater process efficiencies than single-stage systems. In recent times, various reactor configurations and substrates are applied to two-phase anaerobic process. This paper reviews applications and studies of two-phase anaerobic degradation for wastewater treatment, sums up the performance of application to treating waste from distillery, landfill leachate, coffee, cheese whey and dairy, food, pulp and paper, sludge and solid, etc., and summarises reactor configurations, environmental and operational conditions, and comparisons of two-phase anaerobic digestion with other anaerobic reactors.     

Predicted distributed state effects on enhanced biological phosphorus removal in a 5-stage Bardenpho wastewater treatment configuration.

Conventional wastewater treatment simulation programs use a "lumped" approach, where process rates are calculated using bulk concentrations of biomass and microbial storage products. A recently developed distributed, or agent-based, approach, where individual bacteria are modeled to account for their potentially variable hydraulic experiences, was applied to the 5-stage Bardenpho process, a type of enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) that includes internal recycle flows, which were hypothesized to affect distributed state development. Consistent with previous results, the EBPR predicted performance was worse according to the distributed approach than the lumped approach. In addition, increasing the internal recycle rate increased the anoxic reactor nitrate concentrations, tending to decrease EBPR performance. However, in the distributed approach, differences in the state distributions in internal recycle-linked reactors decreased with increasing recycle flow, tending to improve EBPR. These phenomena tend to have simultaneous and opposite effects on EBPR. The net effect will depend largely on the specific systems and the nitrate concentration in anoxic reactors.     

Removal of phenol using mushrooms and immobilized polyphenol oxidase in a plug flow reactor

Phenols are toxic and hazardous pollutants, hence their removal from industrial effluents is important. In this study, edible mushroom particles, which are a cheap and natural source of polyphenol oxidase (PPO), were used directly for phenol removal in a plug flow reactor. Initially, 60% phenol removal was achieved, but this percentage decreased after a second use. When the reactor included PPO immobilised in chitosan gels, the percentage of phenol removal was 30%, and was stable even after the twelfth use.     

Development and application of kinetic model on biological anoxic/aerobic filter

An up-flow biological anoxic filter (BANF) has been developed to achieve high removal performance of suspended solids and BOD removal as well as nitrogen. With a view to understand treatment mechanisms, we developed a filtration model that incorporates filtration, deposit scoring and biological reactions simultaneously. The biological reactions consist of four types of reaction; dissolution of organic particles; utilization of dissolved organic matter; denitrification; and self-degradation of bacteria. Whereas the reactor is generally assumed to be a plug flow reactor in the filtration model, it is assumed a continuous-flow stirred tank reactor (CSTR) in the model of biological reactions. The hydrodynamics is supposed that the filter bottom (the portion sludge settled) is a CSTR and the filter bed (the portion filled with filter media) consists of number of CSTR of equal size arranged in series. The model obtained in this study was verified and simulated using experimental results taken from a pilot-scale plant and predicted the experimental data well, applying to design and operate BANF.     

Decomposition of volatile organic compounds using corona discharge plasma technology

This paper explores the application of corona plasma technology as a tool in treatment of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The review introduces the principle of corona discharge and describes the characteristics of plasma, especially of various corona plasma reactors. By summarizing the main features of such reactors, this paper provides a brief background to different power sources and reactor configurations and their application to VOC treatment design. Considering chlorinated compounds, benzene series and sulfur compounds, this paper reveals the probable mechanism of corona plasma in VOC degradation. Additionally, the effects of numerous technical parameters – such as reactor structure, shape and materials of electrodes, and humidity – are analyzed comprehensively. Product distribution, energy efficiency and economic benefits are invoked as factors to evaluate the performance of VOC degradation. Finally, the practical application of corona plasma and its advantages are briefly introduced. The review aims to illustrate the enormous potential of corona plasma technology in the treatment of VOCs, and identifies future directions.

Implications: This paper comprehensively describes the principle, characteristics, research progress and engineering application examples of the degradation of volatile organics by corona discharge plasma, to provide a theoretical basis for the industrial application of this process.     

Decomposition of benzene and toluene in air streams in fixed-film photoreactors coated with TiO2 catalyst

The decomposition of benzene and toluene in air streams by UV/TiO2 process was studied in different annular photoreactors under various operating conditions. The shells of reactors used in this research are made of stainless steel, Pyrex glass, or titanium. The TiO2 film was coated to the inner surface of the reactors by either rotating coating or sol-gel techniques. The TiO2 films coated by sol-gel technique were found to be smoother and more uniform than those coated by rotating coating. However, experimental results indicated that the photocatalysis of benzene or toluene in a glass reactor with rotating-coated TiO2 film delivered higher decompositions in air streams than that with sol-gel coated reactors. Benzene and toluene were decomposed more effectively in a coated glass reactor than in a coated stainless steel reactor under the same operating conditions. The presence of water vapor in air-stream plays an important role in the decomposition of benzene and toluene, and a relative humidity of approximately 5-6% was found to be adequate. The presence of excessive amounts of humidity retarded the decomposition to certain extents possibly results from the competitive adsorption of water molecules on the active sites of TiO2.     

利用二维表对活性污泥工艺模拟时的流量进行平衡的方法

多点进水和多重回流成为提高活性污泥工艺去除污染物能力的常用方法,这导致活性污泥工艺流程较为复杂。对工艺进行模拟计算时,由于模拟池体数量比实际池体数量更多,流量平衡较为困难。根据工艺流程特征提出了主流线、副流线等概念,结合流量分配比、循环流量等参数,利用二维表进行流量平衡计算,简捷明了,便于检验,大大提高了进行流量平衡的准确性和效率。     

Management of fresh water weeds (macrophytes) by vermicomposting using Eisenia fetida

In the present study, potential of Eisenia fetida to recycle the different types of fresh water weeds (macrophytes) used as substrate in different reactors (Azolla pinnata reactor, Trapa natans reactor, Ceratophyllum demersum reactor, free-floating macrophytes mixture reactor, and submerged macrophytes mixture reactor) during 2 months experiment is investigated. E. fetida showed significant variation in number and weight among the reactors and during the different fortnights (P <0.05) with maximum in A. pinnata reactor (number 343.3?±?10.23 %; weight 98.62?±?4.23 % ) and minimum in submerged macrophytes mixture reactor (number 105?±?5.77 %; weight 41.07?±?3.97 % ). ANOVA showed significant variation in cocoon production (F₄?=?15.67, P <0.05) and mean body weight (F₄?=?13.49, P <0.05) among different reactors whereas growth rate (F₃?=?23.62, P <0.05) and relative growth rate (F₃?=?4.91, P <0.05) exhibited significant variation during different fortnights. Reactors showed significant variation (P <0.05) in pH, Electrical conductivity (EC), Organic carbon (OC), Organic nitrogen (ON), and C/N ratio during different fortnights with increase in pH, EC, N, and K whereas decrease in OC and C/N ratio. Hierarchical cluster analysis grouped five substrates (weeds) into three clusters—poor vermicompost substrates, moderate vermicompost substrate, and excellent vermicompost substrate. Two principal components (PCs) have been identified by factor analysis with a cumulative variance of 90.43 %. PC1 accounts for 47.17 % of the total variance represents “reproduction factor” and PC2 explaining 43.26 % variance representing “growth factor.” Thus, the nature of macrophyte affects the growth and reproduction pattern of E. fetida among the different reactors, further the addition of A. pinnata in other macrophytes reactors can improve their recycling by E. fetida.     

Laboratory evaluation of thermophilic-anaerobic digestion to produce Class A biosolids. 1. Stabilization performance of a continuous-flow reactor at low residence time.

There is increasing interest in the United States in producing biosolids from municipal wastewater treatment that meet the criteria for Class A designation established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Class A biosolids are intended to be free of pathogens and also must meet requirements for reduction of the vector-attraction potential associated with untreated sludge. High-temperature processes are considered to produce Class A biosolids if the combination of operating temperature and treatment time exceeds minimum criteria, but this option is not applicable to mixed, continuous-flow reactors. Such reactors, or any combination of reactors that does not meet the holding time requirement at a specific temperature, must be demonstrated to inactivate pathogens to levels consistent with the Class A criteria. This study was designed to evaluate pathogen inactivation by thermophilic anaerobic digestion in a mixed, continuous-flow reactor followed by batch or plug-flow treatment. In this first of a two-part series, we describe the performance of a continuous-flow laboratory reactor with respect to physical and chemical operating parameters; microbial inactivation in the combined continuous-flow and batch treatment system is described in the second part. Sludges from three different sources were treated at 53 degrees C, while sludge from one of the sources was also treated at 55 and 51 degrees C. Relatively short hydraulic retention times (four to six days) were used to represent a conservative operating condition with respect to pathogen inactivation. Treatment of a fermented primary sludge led to an average volatile-solids (VS) destruction efficiency of 45%, while VS destruction for the other two sources was near or below 38%, the Class A criterion for vector attraction reduction. Consistent with other studies on thermophilic anaerobic digestion of sludges at short residence times, effluent concentrations of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) were relatively high. Also consistent with other studies, the most abundant VFA in the effluent was propionate. Gas production ranged from 0.3 to 0.5 m3/kg VS fed and from 0.8 to 1.3 m3/kg VS destroyed.     

Computational modelling of NOx removal by selective non-catalytic reduction

This paper presents the results of computational kinetic modelling of the removal of nitrogen oxides (NO_x) from flue gases by selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) process using urea as a reducing agent. CHEMKIN and SENKIN computer codes were used with latest reaction mechanism parameters for simulated conditions in an isothermal plug flow reactor. Flue gas initial conditions were simulated as 70 litres/min propane containing 500 ppm background NO_x. A range of molar ratios was studied at optimum temperature. Carbon monoxide and hydrogen were investigated as potential enhancers to lower the temperature window. The modelling results suggested that the optimum temperature for peak reduction was around 1075°C with optimum molar ratios of 1.5. Hydrogen was found to be an efficient enhancer. The optimum residence time was found to be about 80 milliseconds.     

流动床生物膜反应器在污水处理中的应用研究现状

给出了流动床生物膜反应器的定义、分类及其特点 ,并对各种流动床生物膜反应器的优缺点及近年来在污水处理中的应用状况进行了总结 ,根据实际应用效果 ,提出了各类反应器的适用处理对象     

Growth kinetics and competition between Methanosarcina and Methanosaeta in mesophilic anaerobic digestion.

Methanosarcina species with a high maximum specific growth rate (mumax) and high half-saturation coefficient (KS) and Methanosaeta species with a low mumax and low KS are the only known aceticlastic methanogens. Because of Methanosaeta's low KS, the low acetate concentrations in conventional, mesophilic anaerobic digestion yield Methanosaeta dominance. However, Methanosarcina absorbs increases in acetate more efficiently and thus promotes more stable digestion. This paper tests the hypothesis that decreasing digester feeding frequencies can increase Methanosarcina predominance. Two acetate-fed reactors were established at a 17-day solids retention time. One reactor was fed hourly, and one was fed once daily. Microscopic and molecular methods were used to verify that the hourly fed reactor enriched for Methanosaeta, while the daily fed reactor enriched for Methanosarcina. Growth and substrate-use kinetics were measured for each reactor. A digester overload condition was simulated, and the Methanosarcina-enriched reactor was found to perform better than the Methanosaeta-enriched reactor. These findings indicate that Methanosarcina dominance can be achieved with infrequent feedings, leading to more stable digestion.