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A mathematical model for a biological fluidized bed reactor
Author(s) -
Lin S. H.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of chemical technology and biotechnology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.64
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1097-4660
pISSN - 0268-2575
DOI - 10.1002/jctb.280510405
Subject(s) - fluidized bed , dispersion (optics) , differential equation , mechanics , mathematical model , ordinary differential equation , physical system , diffusion , mathematics , thermodynamics , mathematical analysis , physics , statistics , quantum mechanics , optics
A physical model is given in the present report for representing a three‐phase biological fluidized bed reaction system which consists of microorganism‐coated particles, waste water and air. The system is assumed to be well fluidized. The physical model can be represented by two differential equations describing, respectively, the substrate axial dispersion and diffusion/reaction. Numerical values of the physical parameters are selected from the literature or estimated from semi‐empirical equations. The governing system equations are solved by an iterative finite‐difference scheme. The theoretical predictions are compared with several experimental measurements and the agreement between them found to be very good, validating the physical model reported here.