A simple hydrodynamic model for the liquid circulation velocity in a full-scale two- and three-phase internal airlift reactor operating in the gas recirculation regime

A pilot study for oil refinery wastewater treatment using a fixed-film bioreactor

A bacterial mixed culture, which was obtained from sewage by a special enrichment procedure, utilized EDTA as the sole source of carbon and nitrogen for growth. High concentrations of mineral salts, particularly CaCl2, or the use of a mineral base without nitrogen protected the cells from inactivation after transfer into fresh medium containing 200-mg/liter (0.67 mM) EDTA. The chemical speciation did not influence the biodegradability of EDTA. However, when resting cells of the mixed culture were incubated with EDTA in the presence of an equivalent molar amount of FeCl3, the reaction came to a halt before the complete consumption of the substrate. A gram-negative isolate from the mixed population, BNC1, also metabolized EDTA in monoculture. Growth of the pure culture was promoted by biotin or folic acid but was always accompanied by the accumulation of unidentified metabolites and was slow (μmax, 0.024 h-1) compared with that of the original community (μmax, 0.036 h-1).

Total degradation of EDTA by mixed cultures and a bacterial isolate.

Application of airlift gas-liquid-solid reactors in biotechnology

Naphthalene-2-sulfonate was degraded by submerse growing Pseudomonads in a chemostat culture. The kinetic parameters for the Monod equation, including Pirts maintenance energy, were calculated from these experiments regarding naphthalene-2-sulfonate as substrate and oxygene as cosubstrate. By immobilizing the bacteria on sand particles, the degradation of naphthalene-2-sulfonate was carried out in a specialy designed three-phase airlift-loop reactor in a completely fluidized state. From these experiments, the influence of biofilm diffusion limitation on reaction kinetics and criteria for stable biofilm formation on sand particles were obtained.

Biodegradation by immobilized bacteria in an airlift‐loop reactor—influence of biofilm diffusion limitation

An airlift-loop reactor with a fluidized bed was used for the microbiological removal of a complex mixture of aromatic substances originating from coal tar process waters. A specially adapted mixed microbial culture derived from several soil and sludge samples was immobilized on fluidized sand particles and retained in a reactor at high biomas concentrations of 3 to 16 g dry matter per liter, depending on the COD-load. In a two-stage pilot plant, those aromatic substances which passed through the first stage either unaltered or only partially oxidized were effectively eliminated by the immobilized biomass in the second stage. Whereas most of the waste water components such as phenols and quinoline were already degraded by a conventional activated sludge system in the first stage, the majority of nitrogen-containing aromatic bases could be sufficiently eliminated with specially adapted micro-organisms in the second stage. Although the COD-feed load was increased to 12 and 15 kg m−3 d−1 in the first and second stages, respectively, it was removed to the extent of 87% on the average with an overall residence time varying between 11.5 and 29 h.

Paul Hüppe

Papers

Biological treatment of effluents from a coal tar refinery using immobilized biomass

Einsatz eines Suspensions‐Airlift‐Schlaufenreaktors zur Reinigung problematischer Abwässer