LOADING CAPACITY OF A PACKED-BED ANAEROBIC REACTOR

A biofilm model was developed to simulate the behavior of a packed-bed anaerobic reactor. The model was successfully used to describe the performance of an experimental reactor. The model predicts that biofilm depth will increase with increasing organic loading until a maximum depth is reached. At that depth, additional loading will increase the suspended biomass and cause a reduction in the sludge retention time. The model can be used to predict the organic loading rate at which the effluent quality starts deteriorating. Experimental results revealed that the anaerobic biofilm reactor used in this study behaves like a completely mixed reactor. A simplified Monod-type expression can replace the biofilm model in simulating the biological characteristics of the reactor.