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Biological waste gas treatment with a modified rotating biological contactor. ΙΙ. Effect of operating parameters on process performance and mathematical modeling

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Abstract

In the first part of this paper, we introduced a modified rotating biological contactor (RBC) for the biological treatment of waste gas, and demonstrated its feasibility by applying the process to the biodegradation of toluene in a 91-liter reactor containing 20 biofilm support discs with a diameter of 40 cm [1]. We showed that the proposed system allows the unlimited growth of the biofilm to be suppressed, hence eliminating the risk of clogging associated with other biological waste gas treatment systems. Furthermore, we observed stationary long-term performance for more than one year under typical standard operating conditions. In this part of our work, we investigate experimentally the influence of the main process parameters, i.e., gas flow rate, inlet gas concentration, and rotational speed of the biofilm supports on process performance for the same system. Experimental results indicate that the modified RBC system is mass transfer limited for toluene loadings below 150 g/m3h, whereas at higher inlet concentrations of the pollutant, it becomes limited by the biodegradation reaction inside the biofilm. Surprisingly, the disc rotational speed is found to have no major effect on process performance for the system under investigation. A time-independent mathematical model of the process is also presented, and predictions are compared with experimental degradation data. In the range of the investigation process parameters, good agreement between the experimental data and simulation results is obtained.

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Abbreviations

C :

concentration in the gas phase, g/m3

D :

diffusion coefficient, m2/s

D eff :

effective diffusion coefficient in the biofilm, m2/s

EC :

elimination capacity: amount of substrate degraded per unit reactor volume and time, g/m3h

f s :

biofilm surface enlargement

J :

diffusion flux, g/m2s

K L :

gas–liquid mass transfer coefficient, m/s

K m :

Michaelis–Menten constant, g/m3

m :

gas–liquid distribution coefficient, g/g

r :

radial position, m

r max :

maximum degradation rate, g/m3s

RE :

removal efficiency, %

S :

concentration in the liquid phase and in the biofilm, g/m3

v :

velocity, m/s

z :

position perpendicular to the discs, m

δ B :

thickness of the biofilm, m

δ G :

thickness of the gas phase, m

δ L :

thickness of the liquid film, m

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  1. Institute of Process Engineering, ETH Zurich, Sonneggstrasse 3, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    I. Vinage & Ph. R. von Rohr

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  1. I. Vinage
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  2. Ph. R. von Rohr
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Correspondence to Ph. R. von Rohr.

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Vinage, I., von Rohr, P.R. Biological waste gas treatment with a modified rotating biological contactor. ΙΙ. Effect of operating parameters on process performance and mathematical modeling. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 26, 75–82 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-003-0333-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-003-0333-1

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