Removal of hydrogen sulfide, benzene and toluene by a fluidized bed bioreactor

The dominant off gases from publicly owned treatment works include hydrogen sulfide, benzene, and toluene. In this research, hydrogen sulfide oxidized byBacillus cereus, and benzene with toluene were removed by VOC-degrading microbial consortium. The optimum operating condition of the fluidized bed bioreactor including both microorganisms was 30 ‡C, pH 6–8, and 150 cm of liquid bed height. The critical loading rate of hydrogen sulfide, benzene and toluene in the bioreactor was about 15 g/m³h, 10 g/m³h and 12 g/m³h, respectively. The fluidized bed bioreactor showed an excellent elimination capacity for 580 hours of continuous operation, and maintained stable removal efficiency at sudden inlet concentration changes.     

Degradation of benzene and toluene by a fluidized bed bioreactor including microbial consortium

A fluidized bed bioreactor including microbial consortium was used to remove benzene and toluene simultaneously. The microbial consortium was obtained from sewage treatment plant, and showed maximum benzene degradation rate of 45.2 mg/l·h·mg cell in 30 °C and pH 7.0, and maximum toluene degradation rate of 44.4 mg/l·h·mg cell in 30 °C and pH 8.0. The optimum operating condition of the fluidized bed bioreactor was 30 °C, pH 7.0 and 150 cm of liquid bed height. The average removal efficiency of benzene was 94% for inlet concentration of 53(±5) ppm benzene and that of toluene was 96% for an inlet concentration 48(±5) ppm toluene at 600 l/h of gas volumetric flow rate. The maximum removal capacity in the experimental condition was 22.3 g/m³·h for benzene and 16.3 g/ m³·h for toluene. This paper is dedicated to Professor Dong Sup Doh on the occasion of his retirement from Korea University.     

Comparison of packing materials in biofilter system for the biological removal of hydrogen sulfide: Polypropylene fibrils and volcanic stone

In order to develop a method for the removal of hydrogen sulfide via a biological process, two different packing materials were tested to assess their capabilities as biofilter bed materials under variable conditions of two parameters: inlet gas concentration and inlet gas flow rate. We detected a maximal elimination capacity (critical loading rate) of 515.1 (410.5) g-H₂S/m³·hr, and 415.5 (80.0) g-H₂S/m³·hr, respectively, when polypropylene fibrils and volcanic stone were employed as supporting materials. The results of this study show that the application of polypropylene fibrils might be a favorable choice as a packing material in biofilter for the biological removal of hydrogen sulfide.     

Photocatalytic decolorization of rhodamine B by fluidized bed reactor with hollow ceramic ball photocatalyst

Photocatalytic degradation of organic contaminants in wastewater by TiO₂ has been introduced in both bench and pilot-scale applications in suspended state or immobilized state on supporting material. TiO₂ in suspended state gave less activity due to its coagency between particles. Recent advances in environmental photocatalysis have focused on enhancing the catalytic activity and improving the performance of photocatalytic reactors. This paper reports a preliminary design of a new immobilized TiO₂ photocatalyst and its photocatalytic fluidized bed reactor (PFBR) to apply photochemical degradation of a dye, Rhodamine B (RhB). But it was not easy to make a cost-effective and well activated immobilized TiO₂ particles. A kind of photocatalyst (named Photomedium), consisting of hollow ceramic balls coated with TiO₂-sol, which was capable of effective photodegradation of the dye, has been presented in this study. The photocatalytic oxidation of RhB was investigated by changing Photomedia concentrations, initial RhB concentrations, and UV intensity in PFBR This paper is dedicated to Professor Hyun-Ku Rhee on the occasion of his retirement from Seoul National University.     

Effect of interaction of operation parameters on elutriation behavior in a vortexing fluidized bed

A systematic investigation on elutriation behavior conducted in a vortexing fluidized bed (VFB) cold model is studied. The effects of various parameters on the elutriation are investigated from the data obtained by using ‘response surface methodology’ (RSM) to determine the relationship between elutriation rate and operating conditions. The results show that all the interactions among primary air flow rate, secondary air flow rate, fine particle size, secondary air inlet diameter, and imaginary circle diameter had significant influences on elutriation behavior in the VFB. The modified regression models of the ‘specific elutriation rate constant’ (K*) were also submitted in this study.     

Drying of water treatment process sludge in a fluidized bed dryer

The drying characteristics of water treatment process (WTP) sludge were investigated with a fluidized bed. The equilibrium moisture ratio of WTP sludge increased with relative humidity and decreased with temperature of drying air. However, equilibrium moisture ratio of WTP sludge was more sensitively dependent on relative humidity than temperature of drying air. When the sludge was dried in a batch fluidized bed, the drying rate of sludge decreased as the moisture ratio of sludge in the bed decreased. The periods of constant drying rates were apparently not observed on the drying rate curves. In addition, the maximum drying rates were increased with bed temperature and superficial air velocity. As the fluidized bed was operated continuously, the degree of drying of WTP sludge increased with bed temperature but was weakly dependent on superficial air velocity. However, the drying efficiency was decreased with bed temperature and relatively insensitive to superficial air velocity and increased with feed rate of sludge.     

Hydrogen production by catalytic decomposition of methane over carbon catalysts in a fluidized bed

A fluidized bed reactor made of quartz tube with an I.D. of 0.055 m and a height of 1.0 m was employed for the thermocatalytic decomposition of methane to produce CO₂ — free hydrogen. The fluidized bed was used for continuous withdrawal of the carbon products from the reactor. Two kinds of carbon catalysts — activated carbon and carbon black — were employed in order to compare their catalytic activities for the decomposition of methane in the fluidized bed. The thermocatalytic decomposition of methane was carried out in a temperature range of 800–925°C, using a methane gas velocity of 1.0–3.0 U _mf and an operating pressure of 1.0 atm. Distinctive difference was observed in the catalytic activities of two carbon catalysts. The activated carbon catalyst exhibited higher initial activity which decreased significantly with time. However, the carbon black catalyst exhibited somewhat lower initial activity compared to the activated carbon catalyst, but its activity quickly reached a quasi-steady state and was sustained over time. Surfaces of the carbon catalysts before and after the reaction were observed by SEM. The effect of various operating parameters such as the reaction temperature and the gas velocity on the reaction rate was investigated.     

Characteristics of slug flow in a fluidized bed of polyethylene particles

The slug flow behavior of polyethylene particles was examined in a fluidized bed of 7 cm ID and 50 cm in height. The employed polymer particles were high density polyethylene (HDPE) with the average particle size of 603 μm. The slugging flow of polyethylene particles was analyzed from the measured pressure drop signals by classical statistical methods such as absolute average deviation, probability density function, power spectrum, auto-cor-relation, and cross-correlation. The results show that in spite of high dielectric constant of polymer particles, the slugging phenomena such as incipient slugging velocity, slugging frequency and slugging rise velocity were very similar to the Geldart B type non-polymeric particles. It was observed that slug frequencies decreased with gas velocity and the limiting slug frequency was observed for the gas velocities in this study.     

Slugging bed height of polyethylene particles in a fluidized bed with an expanded section

Slugging experiments were performed in a fluidized bed of 7 cm ID and 50 cm in height to examine the maximum bed height with an expanded section. High-density polyethylene (HDPE) particles of 0.5 mm were employed as the bed materials. The slugging bed height was linearly increased with the gas velocity in the beds of uniform cross section as well as expanded section with different slope. From the results of this study, it was found that the existing correlation to predict the slugging bed height based on the heavier particles for the uniform cross section area was satisfactorily applied for the lighter particles of HDPE and for the expanded section, a slight modification was made for the particle of HDPE in the slugging bed. Presented at the Int’/Sym. on Int’l Symp. on Chem. Eng. (Cheju, Feb. 8–10, 2001), dedicated to Prof. H. S. Chun on the occasion of his retirement from Korea University.     

Steam gasification of an australian bituminous coal in a fluidized bed

To produce low calorific value gas, Australian coal has been gasified with air and steam in a fluidized bed reactor (0.1 m-I.Dx1.6 m-high) at atmospheric pressure. The effects of fluidizing gas velocity (2–5 U_f/U_mf), reaction temperature (750–900 °C), air/coal ratio (1.6-3.2), and steam/coal ratio (0.63–1.26) on gas composition, gas yield, gas calorific value of the product gas and carbon conversion have been determined. The calorific value and yield of the product gas, cold gas efficiency, and carbon conversion increase with increasing fluidization gas velocity and reaction temperature. With increasing air/coal ratio, carbon conversion, cold gas efficiency and yield of the product gas increase, but the calorific value of the product gas decreases. When steam/coal ratio is increased, cold gas efficiency, yield and calorific value of the product gas increase, but carbon conversion is little changed. Unburned carbon fraction of cyclone fine decreases with increasing fluidization gas velocity, reaction temperature and air/coal ratio, but is nearly constant with increasing steam/coal ratio. Overall carbon conversion decreases with increasing fluidization velocity and air/ coal ratio, but increases with increasing reaction temperature. The particle entrainment rate increases with increasing fluidization velocity, but decreases with increasing reaction temperature. This paper is dedicated to Professor Dong Sup Doh on the occasion of his retirement from Korea University.     

Hydrodynamic behaviour of solid transport for a closed loop circulating fluidized bed with secondary air injection

The aim of this work was to study the mechanism of solid circulation in a Circulating Fluidized Bed pilot as a function of secondary air flow rate A rectangular column of 7 m height equipped with a U type siphon was used for this purpose The results obtained showed that the solid circulating phenomenon depends on different limiting steps like feeding step (dense bed), siphon circulating capacity and suspension saturation capacity.     

NOx removal by selective noncatalytic reduction with urea solution in a fluidized bed reactor

A fluidized bed reactor has been developed to overcome the plugging problem of urea injection by employing a sparger rather than nozzles in the SNCR process for simultaneous removal of SO₂ and NO_x. In a developed fluidized bed reactor, the optimum temperature to remove NO_x is shifted to lower values, the reaction temperature window is widened with the presence of CO in flue gas, and NO conversion is higher than that in a flow reactor. The optimum amount of urea injection in the reactor is found to be above 1.2 based on the normalized stoichiometric molar ratio (NSR) with respect to NO conversion. In the simultaneous removal of SO₂/NO, conversions of SO₂ and NO reach 80–90%, nearly the same values for the individual removal of SO₂ and NO above 850 ‡C.     

Gas backmixing in the dense region of a circulating fluidized bed

The gas backmixing characteristics in a circulating fluidized bed (0.1 m-IDx5.3-m high) have been determined. The gas backmixing coefficient (D_ba) from the axial dispersion model in a low velocity fluidization region increases with increasing gas velocity. The effect of gas velocity onD _ba in the bubbling bed is more pronounced compared to that in the Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB). In the dense region of a CFB, the two-phase model is proposed to calculate D_bc from the two-phase model and mass transfer coefficient (k) between the crowd phase and dispersed phase. The gas backmixing coefficient and the mass transfer coefficient between the two phases increase with increasing the ratio of average particle to gas velocities (U_p/U_g).     

Characteristics of carbon dioxide hydrogenation in a fluidized bed reactor

Characteristics of CO₂ hydrogenation were investigated in a fluidized bed reactor (0.052 m IDxl.5 m in height). Coprecipitated Fe-Cu-K-Al catalyst (d_ρ=75–90 Μm) was used as a fluidized solid phase. It was found that the CO₂ conversion decreases but the CO selectivity increases, whereas the space-time-yield attains maximum values with increasing gas velocity. The CO₂ conversion has increased, but CO selectivity has decreased with increasing hydrogenation temperature, pressure or H₂/CO₂ ratio in the fluidized bed reactor. Also, the CO, conversion and olefin selectivity appeared to be higher in the fluidized bed reactor than those of the fixed bed reactor. Presented at the Int’l Symp. on Chem. Eng. (Cheju, Feb. 8–10, 2001), dedicated to Prof. H. S. Chun on the occasion of his retirement from Korea University     

Effects of high temperature and combustion on fluidized material attrition in a fluidized bed

This study investigated the effects of high temperature and combustion conditions on the attrition of fluidized material in a fluidized bed. Silica sand was fluidized in air at an atmospheric pressure between 873 K and 1,073 K. The operating parameters evaluated in investigating the attrition rate of fluidized material included particle size, temperature and both combustion and non-combustion conditions. Experimental results indicated that the total weight of attrition increased with increasing temperature and decreased with increasing particle size. The attrition was higher during the initial fluidization period than the later period, due to the loss of sharp corners and edges of the attrition particles. The initial and final attrition rates during combustion were higher than those in the non-combustion condition, because the heat and thermal shock were produced to increase attrition rate during incineration. Comparing the experimental data with previous correlations, that reveals a significant level of error in the prediction results from existing correlations. This error may occur because the experimental equations neglected the operating temperature and particle size.     

Co-combustion of coal and biomass in a circulating fluidized bed combustor

In this research, co-combustion of coal and rice husk was studied in a circulating fluidized bed combustor (CFBC). The effects of mixed fuel ratios, primary air and secondary air flow rates on temperature and gas concentration profiles along riser (0.1 m inside diameter and 3.0 m height) were studied. The average particle size of coal from Maetah used in this work was 1,128 mm and bed material was sand. The range of primary air flow rates was 480–920 l/min corresponding to U _g of 1.0–2.0 m/s for coal feed rate at 5.8 kg/h. The recirculation rate through L-valve was 100 kg/hr. It was found that the temperatures along the riser were rather steady at about 800–1,000 degrees Celsius. The introduction of secondary air improved combustion and temperature gradient at the bottom of the riser, particularly at a primary air flow rate below 1.5 m/s. Blending of coal with biomass, rice husk, did improve the combustion efficiency of coal itself even at low concentration of rice husk of 3.5 wt%. In addition, the presence of rice husk in the feed stocks reduced the emission of both NO _x and SO₂.     

Mathematical modelling and optimization of hydrogen continuous production in a fixed bed bioreactor

The purpose of this paper is to investigate, both theoretically and experimentally, hydrogen production from agro-industrial by-products using a continuous bioreactor packed with a mixture of spongy and glass beads and inoculated with Enterobacter aerogenes. Replicated series of experimental runs were performed to study the effects of residence time on hydrogen evolution rate and to characterize the critical conditions for the wash out, as a function of the inlet glucose concentration and of the fluid superficial velocity. A further series of experimental runs was focused on the effects of both residence time and inlet glucose concentration over hydrogen productivity. A kinetic model of the process was developed and showed good agreement with experimental data, thus representing a potential tool to design a large-scale fermenter. In fact, the model was applied to the optimal design of a bioreactor suitable of feeding a phosphoric acid fuel cell of a target power.     

Axial dispersion of gas in a circulating fluidized bed

An axial dispersion of gas in a circulating fluidized bed was investigated in a fluidized bed of 4.0 cm I.D. and 279 cm in height. The axial dispersion coefficient of gas was determined by the stimulus-response method of trace gas of CO₂. The employed particles were 0.069 mm and 0.147 mm silica-sand. The results showed that axial dispersion coefficients were increased with gas velocity and solid circulation rates as well as suspension density. The experimentally determined axial dispersion coefficients in this study were in the range of 1.0-3.5 m²/s.     

Attribution of sewage sludge and sludge-based char in a fluidized bed reactor

Fluidized bed pyrolysis has been recognized as an innovative technology for sewage sludge treatment. The physical and attrition properties of sewage sludge are changed through the fluidized bed pyrolysis. The minimum fluidization velocities and attribution rate constants for sewage sludge and sludge based-char were obtained from pressure drop and attribution tests. As a result, sewage sludge with 20% moisture content and char were classified as Geldart B solids and the superficial gas velocity for bubbling fluidization was 0.2142-0.8755 m/s. In addition, attribution of the sewage sludge and char was more affected by particle size than by material type. The equations for the overall attrition rate constants are K _a × 10⁵ = 1.09U − 14.82 for sludge and ln k _a = 0.1(U−U _mf )− 13.63 for char, respectively.     

Axial gas dispersion in a fluidized bed of polyethylene particles

Gas mixing behavior was investigated in a residence time distribution experiment in a bubbling fluidized bed of 0.07 m ID and 0.80 m high. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) particles having a mean diameter of 772 Μm and a particle size range of 200-1,500 Μm were employed as the bed material. The stimulus-response technique with CO₂ as a tracer gas was performed for the RTD study. The effects of gas velocity, aspect ratio (H₀/D) and scale-up on the axial gas dispersion were determined from the unsteady-state dispersion model, and the residence time distributions of gas in the fluidized bed were compared with the ideal reactors. It was found that axial dispersion depends on the gas velocity and aspect ratio of the bed. The dimensionless dispersion coefficient was correlated with Reynolds number and aspect ratio.