Oxygen Transfer Model for a Flow-Through Hollow-Fiber Membrane Biofilm Reactor
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 135, Issue 9
Abstract
A mechanistic oxygen transfer model was developed and applied to a flow-through hollow-fiber membrane-aerated biofilm reactor. Model results are compared to conventional clean water test results as well as performance data obtained when an actively nitrifying biofilm was present on the fibers. With the biofilm present, oxygen transfer efficiencies between 30 and 55% were calculated from the measured data including the outlet gas oxygen concentration, ammonia consumption stoichiometry, and oxidized nitrogen production stoichiometry, all of which were in reasonable agreement. The mechanistic model overpredicted the oxygen transfer by a factor of 1.3 relative to the result calculated from the outlet gas oxygen concentration, which was considered the most accurate of the measured benchmarks. A mass transfer coefficient derived from the clean water testing with oxygen sensors at the membrane-liquid interface was the most accurate of the predictive models (overpredicted by a factor of 1.1) while a coefficient determined by measuring bulk liquid dissolved oxygen underpredicted the oxygen transfer by a factor of 3. The mechanistic model was found to be an adequate tool for design because it used the published diffusion and partition coefficients rather than requiring small-scale testing to determine the system-specific mass transfer coefficients.
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Acknowledgments
The first writer is currently a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa. Funding was provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and a Charles Via doctoral fellowship to the first writer from the Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech. The writers also thank Dr. Jay Garland, Kristina Reid-Black, and Mary Hummerick of Dynamac Corp./NASA Kennedy Space Center for assistance in constructing the membrane module and with wastewater formulation, Julie Petruska and Jody Smiley of Virginia Tech for the assistance with facilities, instrumentation, and experimental methods, Lee Bryant of Virginia Tech for the use of the picoammeter, and the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 135 • Issue 9 • September 2009
Pages: 806 - 814
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Jan 14, 2008
Accepted: Dec 11, 2008
Published online: Mar 5, 2009
Published in print: Sep 2009
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