Modelling and kinetic aspects of a BTEX contaminated air-treating biofilter |
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Authors: | Anil K. Mathur Rahul Chandrajit B. Majumder Shashi B. Gautam Ian J. Mcnaught |
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Affiliation: | 1. Uttar Pradesh, Pollution Control Board , Lucknow-226010, India anilmathur@rediffmail.com;3. Chemical Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee , 247667, India;4. Chemical Engineering Department, Harcourt Butler Technological Institute , Kanpur , 208002 , India;5. Chemistry Department, Petroleum Institute , Abu Dhabi , United Arab Emirates |
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Abstract: | In this study, the overall performance of a biofilter was evaluated in terms of its elimination capacity by using 3-D mesh techniques. The overall results indicate that the agreement between experimental data and model predictions is excellent for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and o-xylene (BTEX). In this study, the maximum removal rate (r max) values for BTEX were 0.0117, 0.0126, 0.0081 and 0.0146 g m–3 h–1, and the half-saturation constant (KS ) values were calculated to be 0.269, 0.297, 0.156 and 0.394 g m–3, respectively. For this system, the coefficients of determination (r 2) of BTEX compounds were greater than 0.97. The BTEX concentration profiles along the depth were also determined using a convection–diffusion reactor (CDR) model. The sums of squares of the errors (SSEs) of BTEX were 0.0078, 0.0059, 0.0129 and 0.0269, respectively, with r 2 values greater than 0.99 for all four compounds at low concentrations. |
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Keywords: | Biofiltration BTEX vapour CDR model Kinetics |
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