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An analysis of a trickle‐bed bioreactor: Carbon disulfide removal
Author(s) -
Lobo Ricardo,
Revah Sergio,
ViverosGarcía Tomás
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
biotechnology and bioengineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.136
H-Index - 189
eISSN - 1097-0290
pISSN - 0006-3592
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0290(19990405)63:1<98::aid-bit10>3.0.co;2-8
Subject(s) - bioreactor , mass transfer , substrate (aquarium) , chemistry , mass transfer coefficient , chromatography , chemical engineering , kinetics , kinetic energy , absorption (acoustics) , biodegradation , analytical chemistry (journal) , materials science , organic chemistry , composite material , oceanography , physics , quantum mechanics , engineering , geology
An analysis of the local processes occurring in a trickle‐bed bioreactor (TBB) with a first‐order bioreaction shows that the identification of the TBB operating regime requires knowledge of the substrate concentration in the liquid phase. If the substrate liquid concentration is close to 0, the rate‐controlling step is mass transfer at the gas–liquid interface; when it is close to the value in equilibrium with the gas phase, the controlling step is the phenomena occurring in the biofilm. CS 2 removal rate data obtained in a TBB with a Thiobacilii consortia biofilm are analyzed to obtain the mass transfer and kinetic parameters, and to show that the bioreactor operates in a regime mainly controlled by mass transfer. A TBB model with two experimentally determined parameters is developed and used to show how the bioreactor size depends on the rate‐limiting step, the absorption factor, the substrate fractional conversion, and on the gas and liquid contact pattern. Under certain conditions, the TBB size is independent of the flowing phases' contact pattern. The model effectively describes substrate gas and liquid concentration data for mass transfer and biodegradation rate controlled processes. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 63: 98–109, 1999.