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Experimental study and modeling of denitrification in an MBBR reactor

  • Meriem Bouteraa EMAIL logo , Rania Zamouche-Zerdazi , Mohamed Bahita and Mossaab Bencheikh-lehocine
Published/Copyright: September 13, 2022
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International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering
From the journal International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering Volume 21 Issue 5

Abstract

A denitrification mathematical model was used to describe the nitrates and organic carbons use by the denitrify biomass in the Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR). The model integrates the diffusive mass transfer mechanism as well as double substrates Monod kinetics. Preliminary experiments were realized in order to assess the operating conditions for growth of attached biomass, the determination of the optimal (COD/NO3-N) ratio, moreover the results of the previous study of the residence time distribution in this MBBR established the optimal hydrodynamic operating conditions with a dead volume of 22%. In this reactor, seeded with a mixed liquor from a purification station, kaldnesk1 were used as carriers. A total of 6 kinetic and stoichiometric constants under anoxic conditions were determined by batch-test pulsed respirometry; some parametric have been determined experimentally, such as YHD, YNO, μ ˆ HD and KS, and with their values 0.4 mgCOD (mgCOD)−1, 0.6 mg COD (mgCOD)−1,0.864 d−1 and 12.48 mg COD L −1, respectively. The other constants were determined using the model fitting (using MATLAB), such as KNO3 and bHD with its values, 0.25 mg NO3-N. L−1 and 0.061 d−1, respectively. The model was used to simulated different operating condition and the results included the concentration profiles of NO3-N, COD and XBH, which showed good agreement with the experimental ones, mainly by using the effective volume determined experimentally in the hydrodynamic study (RTD test) and which can reach 62% of the total volume under some operating. Additionally, these findings demonstrate that moving bed reactor characterization may be accomplished using in situ pulsed respirometry (MBBR).

Keywords: denitrification; kinetic constants; mathematical model; pulse respirometry
Corresponding author: Meriem Bouteraa, Faculty of Process Engineering, Laboratory of Environmental Process Engineering (LIPE), University Salah Boubnider Constantine 3, University City Ali Mendjli 25000 Constantine, Algeria, E-mail:

Acknowledgment

We would like to express our sincere thanks to the Engineers of the LIPE laboratory, Faculty of Process Engineering (Salah Boubnider Constantine 3 University, Algeria). We would like to acknowledge the contribution of the Environment Department of Constantine City, Algeria, for allowing the collection of sludge samples in the treatment plant. Chelghoum Laid, Algeria.

Special thanks to Professor A.H. Meniai for his scientific contribution and his precious help.

  1. Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

  2. Research funding: None declared.

  3. Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding this article.

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Supplementary Material

The online version of this article offers supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/ijcre-2022-0126).

Received: 2022-06-17
Accepted: 2022-08-25
Published Online: 2022-09-13

© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.1515/ijcre-2022-0126
Keywords for this article
denitrification; kinetic constants; mathematical model; pulse respirometry

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Articles
  3. Numerical study of post-combustion characteristic in a smelting reduction furnace
  4. Experimental study and modeling of denitrification in an MBBR reactor
  5. Experimental study on the influence of fuel-rich and fuel-lean coal/airflow ratio on aerodynamic characteristics of a 300MWe foster wheeler down-fired boiler
  6. Effect of La on the catalytic performance of mesoporous Ni/γ-Al2O3 catalysts for dry reforming of methane
  7. Adsorption of paratoluic acid on MIL-53 (Al) metal-organic framework, and response surface methodology optimization
  8. An intelligent dynamic setting control framework for a multimode impurity removal process
  9. Optimization of microwave-assisted synthesis process for water-soluble ammonium polyphosphate from urea phosphate and urea
  10. Oxidation of NMST to NMSBA catalyzed by Co/Mn/Br together with porous carbon made from coconut shell with acetic acid as an activator
  11. Influence of blast volume on hot blast distribution rule around the hearth circumferentially
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