Bioresource Technology 71 (2000) 235±243

A mathematical model and criteria for designing horizontal-¯ow

anaerobic immobilized biomass reactors for wastewater treatment
Marcelo Zaiat*, Fernando Hermes Passig, Eugenio Foresti
Departamento de Hidr
aulica e Saneamento, Escola de Engenharia de S~
ao Carlos (EESC), Universidade de S~
ao Paulo (USP), Av. Dr. Carlos Botelho,
1465 CEP, 13560-250 S~ao Carlos, SP, Brazil
Received 28 January 1999; received in revised form 30 April 1999; accepted 17 May 1999

Abstract
The development and the preliminary evaluation of a mathematical model used to design a horizontal-¯ow anaerobic immo-
bilized biomass (HAIB) reactor applied to domestic sewage treatment is presented. The in¯uences of both the liquid super®cial
velocity and the bioparticle size on the overall reaction rate were examined. The size of the particle used as biomass support was
found to a€ect strongly the total volume of the designed unit since the e€ectiveness factor decreased as the bioparticle size increased.
On the contrary, the overall organic matter conversion rate was not substantially in¯uenced by the liquid velocity. Based on these
data obtained from the mathematical model, a pilot-scale HAIB reactor was constructed adopting some design parameters and
following the design criteria established. The HAIB reactor comprised a 14.5 cm internal diameter PVC tube with length of 14.4 m
divided in to ®ve stages of 2.88 m each. Polyurethane foam cubic matrices with 1 cm side were used as support for biomass im-
mobilization. The reactor was operated at a mean hydraulic retention time of 4.3 h at mean sewage temperature of 25 ‹ 1°C and
mean liquid ¯ow rate of 20 L hÿ1 . A preliminary evaluation of the mathematical model proposed to design the HAIB reactor was
performed based on data of chemical oxygen demand (COD) pro®les along the reactor length. Although deviations were observed
between experimental and theoretical data, the proposed model was found to be suitable for predicting the overall behavior of the
reactor. Ó 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Wastewater treatment; Anaerobic process; Fixed-bed reactor; Domestic sewage; Mass-transfer; Kinetics; Mathematical model

Nomenclature VT total volume of the reactor, [L]3

Vu useful volume of the reactor, [L]3
A useful area for liquid ¯ow, [L]2 X mean biomass concentration, [M] [L]ÿ3
Ap particle area, [L]2 e bed porosity
Bi Biot number / Thiele modulus
dp equivalent diameter of the particle, [L] g e€ectiveness factor
D diameter of the reactor, [L] lL liquid viscosity, [M] [L]ÿ1 [T]ÿ1
De e€ective di€usivity, [L]2 [T]ÿ1 hh hydraulic retention time, [T]
DTS diameter of the tube for gas collection, [L] hc biomass retention time, [T]
ECOD COD eciency removal, [%] qL liquid density, [M] [L]ÿ3
fD Ergun friction factor
k1 ®rst order intrinsic kinetic parameter, [T]ÿ1 1. Introduction
ks liquid-phase mass-transfer coecient, [L] [T]ÿ1
L length of the reactor, [L] The ®rst generation of anaerobic bioreactors was
Q liquid ¯ow rate, [L]3 [T]ÿ1 composed of mixed units without sludge recycle in
Rp equivalent sphere radius, [L] which the biomass retention time (hc ) was similar to the
ms liquid super®cial velocity, [L] [T]ÿ1 hydraulic retention time (hh ). The better understanding
Vp particle volume, [L]3 of the biological processes resulted in the development
of reactors with (hc ) higher than (hh ) that utilized sec-
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +55-16 273-9571; fax: +55-16 273- ondary settlers for sludge recycle. Immobilized sludge
9550; e-mail: zaiat@sc.usp.br reactors, in which the biomass is attached to an inert

0960-8524/00/$ ± see front matter Ó 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 9 6 0 - 8 5 2 4 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 7 7 - 2
236 M. Zaiat et al. / Bioresource Technology 71 (2000) 235±243
support or self-immobilized, permit the attainment of
high (hc ) even when low values of (hh ) are applied. For
most of the immobilized biomass reactor con®gurations,
sludge recycle can be suppressed. Up-¯ow anaerobic
sludge blanket (UASB) reactors, anaerobic ®lters and
expanded- or ¯uidized-bed anaerobic reactors are ex-
amples of immobilized-cell systems.
The design and scale-up of anaerobic immobilized
biomass reactors has usually been carried out utilizing
empirical criteria. The utilization of such criteria makes
the system optimization very dicult, since the ``black-
box'' approach has application strictly limited to the
boundaries within which the model was developed
(Wentzel and Ekama, 1997). The adoption of funda-
mental criteria is essential for permitting the design of
heterogeneous units at desired organic matter degrada-
tion rates.
Mass-transfer rates are very important in heteroge-
neous systems, since the materials may have to move
from one phase to another. In such systems mass-
transfer and the relative quantities of the various phases
can play an important role in determining the overall
reaction rate (Atkinson, 1974). Both mass-transfer and
biochemical reaction rates must be evaluated for iden-
ti®cation of the slowest step. The quanti®cation of the
mass-transfer limitations becomes important for the
design of high-performance, immobilized cell systems.
This performance is directly related to the minimization
of such limitations, since the overall reaction rate in
these systems can be reduced because of liquid and solid
mass-transfer resistance.
The liquid-phase (external) mass-transfer resistance
decreases as the liquid super®cial velocity is increased,
due to the decrease of the boundary liquid layer. Ac-
cording to Atkinson (1974), the in¯uence of the ¯uid
velocity on the overall rate of reaction is such that at
high values the overall rate becomes essentially constant.
However, this is true only if the external mass-transfer is
the limiting phenomenon of the overall process. In fact,
a global analysis, including external and internal mass-
transfer besides the biochemical reactions, has to be
done to relate the sensitivity of the overall reaction rate
to the physical and biochemical process parameters.
The solid-phase mass-transfer resistance is in¯uenced
by the size of the support particle, besides the charac-
teristics of the inert support and biomass concentration.
The di€usion velocity increases as the particle size de-
creases. Therefore, an operating parameter (ms ) and a
design parameter (the size of the support for biomass
immobilization) are intrinsically related and a€ect the
overall reaction rate and, consequently, the reactor
performance.
A mathematical model, that includes mass-transfer
and biochemical reaction rates, was proposed, and used
for designing a pilot-scale biological heterogeneous re-
actor, the horizontal-¯ow anaerobic immobilized bio-
mass (HAIB) reactor, to be applied for treatment of pre-
screened domestic sewage. Afterwards, the designed re-
actor was constructed and assayed in order to evaluate
the applicability of the model and the design criteria
adopted.
2. Mathematical model proposed to aid in design
A bench-scale HAIB reactor was ®rst built to treat
recycled paper wastewater (Foresti et al., 1995) and,
afterwards, it was applied for kinetic, mass-transfer and
hydrodynamic studies (Zaiat et al., 1997a). The HAIB
bench-scale bioreactor used in all these previous exper-
iments comprised a 1 m long glass tube of 0.05 m di-
ameter with total volume of 2 l. It was provided with a
perforated tube of 0.9 cm diameter installed at its upper
part for gas separation and collection. Polyurethane
foam was used as support for biomass immobilization in
all previous work and this material was chosen as sup-
port in the pilot-scale unit.
The studies performed in the bench-scale HAIB re-
actor permitted the estimation of some fundamental
parameters that were applied in the present work to
develop a mathematical model for design purposes.
Initially, the ¯ow pattern was considered to be
properly described by a plug-¯ow model. This assump-
tion was based on previous hydrodynamic studies car-
ried out by de Nardi et al. (1999) in the bench-scale
HAIB reactor. Afterwards, substrate consumption was
considered to follow a ®rst-order kinetic model in the
speci®c case of domestic sewage. This assumption was
based on kinetic data obtained for anaerobic degrada-
tion of domestic sewage by Vieira (1996). The intrinsic
characteristics of this wastewater and the low concen-
trations of organic matter permitted the representation
of the biochemical reaction rate by a ®rst-order model.
In this case, the overall anaerobic degradation process
can be reduced to only one step. This approach sim-
pli®es the model since only one kinetic parameter is
necessary to describe the biochemical reaction rate. This
parameter refers to the slowest step of the anaerobic
conversion. If several anaerobic degradation steps are
assumed, kinetic parameters of each step considered
must be supplied to the model. In this case, the exper-
imental e€ort can be dicult and the results unsatis-
factory, since the experimental identi®cation of each
step can be complicated. Moreover, the resultant model
can become complicated, making its practical applica-
tion dicult. However, the adoption of one-step an-
aerobic degradation kinetic is an assumption to be
proved and this was, perhaps, the major challenge of
this work.
According to these assumptions and assuming iso-
thermal condition, the substrate mass balance under
steady state was as follows:
 M. Zaiat et al. / Bioresource Technology 71 (2000) 235±243 237
( " #) Additionally, the knowledge of the pressure drop in
ÿ…L=D†X k1 gD
ECOD ˆ 1 ÿ exp  100; …1† the bed …DP † is important in order to choose suitable
e:ms liquid super®cial velocities and particle sizes. Such a
where ECOD is the chemical oxygen demand (COD) re- parameter was estimated by the Ergun friction factor
moval eciency; L, the length of the reactor; D, the according to Bennett and Myers (1974). The Ergun
diameter of the reactor; k1 , the ®rst-order intrinsic ki- factor (fD ) is de®ned as:
netic constant; X , the mean biomass concentration 150
within the reactor, based on its useful volume; g, is the fD ˆ ‡ 1:75: …6†
Rem
overall e€ectiveness factor; e, the bed porosity and ms is
In this expression, Rem is the modi®ed Reynolds
the liquid super®cial velocity.
number, de®ned as:
The ®rst-order kinetic parameter (k1 or k1 X ) used in
the model is the intrinsic parameter estimated under ms qL dp
Rem ˆ : …7†
conditions of mass-transfer resistance being negligible. lL …1 ÿ e†
The utilization of intrinsic parameters provides a general The expression (6) is valid for Rem ranging from 1.0
model, which can be applied for any condition of mass- to 104 .
transfer limitation. The in¯uence of the mass-transfer The pressure drop in the bed was estimated by the
resistance on the overall reaction rate is considered in following expression:
the value of the e€ectiveness factor; that is a function of
fD Lm2s …1 ÿ e†qL
the liquid-phase mass-transfer coecient, the e€ective DP ˆ : …8†
di€usivity of the substrate into the bioparticles and the dp e3
intrinsic kinetic parameter. In the expressions (7) and (8), dp is the bioparticle
The e€ectiveness factor can be expressed in terms of diameter; lL , the liquid viscosity; qL , the liquid density;
dimensionless variables for ®rst-order kinetics as: e, the bed porosity; ms , the liquid super®cial velocity and
   L is the length of the designed reactor.
1 1 1 Bi A sequence of calculations based on the mathematical
gˆ ÿ : …2†
/ tgh…3/† 3/ ‰3/=tgh…3/†Š ‡ Bi ÿ 1 model was proposed to obtain the dimensions of the
In this expression, / is the Thiele modulus and Bi is reactor as length, diameter, useful and total volumes,
the Biot number de®ned as: besides the diameter of the tube for gas collection.
The mathematical model developed for designing
 s
Vp k1 X HAIB reactors pre-supposes the provision of several
/ˆ ; …3† parameters, which have to be chosen or determined
Ap De
previously. It is convenient to divide these parameters
k s Rp into operating, fundamental and physical.
Bi ˆ : …4†
De The in¯uent substrate concentration, the liquid ¯ow
In the expressions (3) and (4), k1 is the ®rst-order rate (Q) and the bed porosity (e) are the operating pa-
kinetic parameter; ks is the liquid-phase mass-transfer rameters. The bed porosity must be evaluated from
coecient; X , the mean biomass concentration; De , the bench scale experiments. Polyurethane foam is com-
e€ective di€usion of substrate into the particle; Rp , the pressible and the bed porosity will be in¯uenced by the
equivalent particle radius; Vp and Ap are the particle way that the support is compacted. Wet polyurethane
volume and super®cial area, respectively. foam must be used in bench-scale experiments in order
The liquid-phase mass-transfer coecient (ks ) is a to reproduce the condition of the foam inside the reac-
function of the physical properties of the liquid and the tor, since data of bed porosity provided by dry foam are
liquid super®cial velocity. Several relationships for esti- quite di€erent from those obtained with the support
mation of ks are presented in the literature. A relation- containing water or biomass. The polyurethane foam
ship presented by Perry and Chilton (1985) was utilized softly compressed will provided a bed porosity of 0.4,
in this work as: approximately.
  ÿ1=3  ÿ1 The mass-transfer and kinetic coecients are the
Ks dp lL ems qL dp fundamental parameters. The intrinsic kinetic parame-
DL qL DL lL ters must be estimated for each particular case (waste-
 ÿ0:50 water/biomass) using methods presented in the literature
ms qL dp
ˆ 1:90 : …5† (Shieh and Mulcahy, 1986; Kus and Wiesmann, 1995;
…1 ÿ e†lL Vieira et al., 1996; Zaiat et al., 1997b). Such methods
In this expression, dp is the bioparticle diameter; DL , aim at the attainment of experimental conditions that
the substrate di€usion in a liquid medium, lL , the liquid render the mass-transfer resistances negligible.
viscosity; qL , the liquid density; e, the bed porosity and The substrate e€ective di€usivity in a particle (De )
ms is the liquid super®cial velocity. determines the mass transport inside the catalyst.
238 M. Zaiat et al. / Bioresource Technology 71 (2000) 235±243
Reliable design will not be obtained if this parameter
is unknown. Idealistically, De would be estimated di-
rectly from data obtained inside the pores of the ma-
trix. However, such experiments are expensive and
slow. Alternatively, it can be estimated from experi-
ments in which the liquid-phase is monitored and De is
obtained from a material balance. Willianson and
McCarty (1976) considered it adequate to regard the
e€ective di€usivities (De ) of substrates in bio®lms as
being 80% of their value in water. This estimation has
been well-accepted (Droste and Kennedy, 1987),
mainly due to the complexity of the experimental
procedures and mathematical analyses involved in the
determination of De . However, the bio®lm composi-
tion and structure, besides the nature and character-
istics of the support material, may in¯uence the value
of De . In fact, Zaiat (1996) observed that the mean
value of the di€usion coecient for glucose in poly-
urethane foam bioparticles was similar to the value in
water. Vela et al. (1999) reported a value for e€ective
di€usivity (De ) of 0:58  10ÿ5 cm2 /s for glucose in
bioparticles of sodium alginate containing anaerobic
biomass. This De obtained corresponds to 77% of the
value in water. Therefore, the results presented in the
literature are very speci®c and they cannot be extended
to other systems. Simple and rapid methods must be
developed in order to obtain data on De for a speci®c
system.
Di€usion in a liquid medium (DL ) is described in the
literature for several compounds (Perry and Chilton,
1985). The DL value used in the model must be related to
the limiting substrate.
The physical parameters to be provided to the model
are the liquid density (qL ) and viscosity (lL ) that must be
obtained experimentally for a given temperature.
The criteria to be assumed and ®xed by the designer
are the organic matter removal eciency (expressed as
COD in this case) and the ratio between the diameter of
the tube for gas collection and the reactor diameter
(DTS /D). The liquid super®cial velocity (ms ) and the
equivalent particle radius can also be imposed by the
designer. However, these parameters must be obtained
by optimization procedures.
The designer must ®x the expected COD removal
eciency. The assumption of very high eciencies can
result in very big units and the design can become eco-
nomically impracticable, but in order to adopt this pa-
rameter, the designer can use previous experience with
other types of reactor treating the same wastewater. In
this way, the capacity of the designed unit can be com-
pared with other units.
The ECOD can be used as a design safety factor. A
value higher than expected can be assumed in order to
guarantee that the reactor provides suitable results, even
under adverse conditions such as organic overloading,
for example.
Based on bench-scale experiments, a value between
0.1 and 0.2 was proposed for the ratio (DTS /D). Values
in this range allow good conditions for gas separation
and result in a relatively high useful volume with respect
to the total volume.
The liquid super®cial velocity directly in¯uences the
liquid-phase mass-transfer rate. The value of the liq-
uid-phase mass-transfer rate increases with ms in a bed
containing bioparticles. In a ®rst analyses it is desir-
able to adopt values of ms as high as possible, to ob-
tain maximum overall reaction rates. However, the
value of ms is limited by the value that determines the
biomass washout from the support. According to
Zaiat et al. (1996), the application of ms higher than
1.5 cm sÿ1 will result in washout of around 10% of
volatile suspended solids from polyurethane foam
matrices.
The size of the particle is directly related to the dif-
fusion rate inside the particle and to the external mass-
transfer. The intraparticle mass-transfer rate will be-
come higher as the particle size decreases; thus, it would
be desirable to assume particles with size as small as
possible in order to maximize the overall reaction rate.
However, utilization of small particles can result in high
pressure drops in a ®xed-bed. Thus, the size of particles
that maximizes the overall rate while causing low bed-
pressure-drops must be chosen.
3. Methods
3.1. Design parameters and criteria
The fundamental and physical parameters were esti-
mated or adopted speci®cally for domestic sewage at
25°C, the mean temperature of the sewage to be treated,
while the operating ones were imposed on the model or
obtained after wastewater characterization. These pa-
rameters are presented in Table 1.
The in¯uent substrate concentration (Sbo ) provided
to the model was obtained after characterization of the
sewage to be treated, and a constant ¯ow rate (Q) was
assumed in this work in order to achieve better evalua-
tion of the mathematical model.
The ®rst-order kinetic parameter (k1 ) was estimated
using the technique proposed by Vieira et al. (1996),
because the experimental apparatus is simple (incubator
shaker) and the method for estimation of the parameter
is very quick. The value of the mean biomass concen-
tration (X ) can be derived from the kinetic experiments.
It can also be evaluated from speci®c experiments car-
ried out to provide data about the maximum ability of
the support to retain biomass. It was observed experi-
mentally that polyurethane foam matrices were able to
retain 23 mg of volatile suspended solids m Lÿ1 of foam.
However, this value is based on a small number of ex-
 M. Zaiat et al. / Bioresource Technology 71 (2000) 235±243 239

Table 1
Parameters used for HAIB reactor design applied to domestic sewage treatment
Parameter Value Source
ÿ1
In¯uent COD 350 mg L Sewage characterization
Q 20 L hÿ1 Constant parameter, ®xed for design
Bed porosity (e) 0.4 Experimentally obtained (polyurethane foam softly compressed)
k1 7:51  10ÿ5 L mg VSSÿ1 hÿ1 a
Experimentally obtained
De 4:97  10ÿ3 cm2 hÿ1 Perry and Chilton (1985)
DL 4:97  10ÿ3 cm2 hÿ1 Perry and Chilton (1985)
lL 0.0089 P Experimentally obtained
qL 1.19 g mLÿ1 Experimentally obtained
a
VSS ˆ Volatile Suspended Solids.

perimental observations and a high degree of uncer- were allocated along the reactor length in order to ob-
tainty can be associated with it. tain pro®les of some monitoring parameters.
The e€ective di€usivity (De ) was assumed to be the
di€usion coecient in water (DL ) based on the results 3.3. Operation and analytical procedures
obtained by Zaiat (1996), due to the diculty of estab-
lishing a suitable experimental method. In addition to Pre-screened domestic sewage was pumped to the
this, the complexity of the sewage makes the identi®ca- reactor at a constant ¯ow-rate of 20 L hÿ1 as de®ned in
tion of the di€usion rate-limiting substrate dicult. The the design phase. Samples along the reactor length (L/
data extracted from Perry and Chilton (1985) refers to a D ˆ 20, 40, 60 and 80) were taken after start-up of the
mean value of di€usion of carbohydrates with molecular reactor in order to obtain data on COD to compare with
weights ranging from 1,000 to 100,000. the values predicted by the theoretical model used for
A Brook®eld viscosimeter and a simple densimeter design purpose. The analyses were performed according
were used to estimate the liquid viscosity (lL ) and den- to the Standard Methods for the Examination of Water
sity (qL ), respectively. and Wastewater (SMEWW, 1995).
The COD removal eciency assumed in this work In¯uent samples were taken during the day by auto-
(90%) was higher than that observed in other anaerobic matic sampler every two hours and kept for subsequent
reactors treating domestic sewage, as a safety factor for analysis in a ¯ask maintained at 5°C. The data obtained
the design. An intermediate value of 0.15 was assumed refer to composite samples taken over the day.
for the ratio between diameter of the tube for gas col-
lection (DTS ) and reactor diameter (D).
A speci®c liquid super®cial velocity (ms ) value as well
4. Results and discussion
as a speci®c equivalent sphere radius (Rp ) value were not
®xed for design purposes. Several values were initially
4.1. Application of the proposed model for designing an
tested in the model and the values that maximized the
HAIB reactor for sewage treatment
overall substrate uptake rate and minimized the pressure
drop in the bed were adopted.
Considering the design parameters adopted and the
imposed design criteria, a sequence of calculations was
3.2. Pilot-scale horizontal-¯ow anaerobic immobilized
biomass (HAIB) reactor Table 2
Characteristics of the HAIB reactor as designed based on rational
A pilot-scale HAIB reactor was constructed in order bases and the actual characteristics of the constructed reactor
to evaluate the proposed model and the assumed crite- Characteristic Designed Constructed
ria. The dimensions of the reactor obtained by the the- Diameter of the reactor, D (cm) 14.0 14.5
oretical model were slightly changed in order to make Length of the reactor, L (m) 13.7 14.4
construction using commercially-available PVC tubes. Diameter of the tube for gas separation, 2.1 2.0
The reactor was ®lled with 1 cm side cubic particles of DTS (cm)
Total volume, VT (L) 210.0 237.5
polyurethane foam (density of 23 Kg mÿ3 ), resulting in a
Useful volume, Vu (L) 190.0 217.2
bed porosity of 0.4 according to the design criteria Hydraulic retention time, (hh ) (h) 3.8 4.3
adopted. The characteristics of the designed and con- Liquid super®cial velocity, ms (cm sÿ1 ) 0.1 0.09
structed reactor are presented in Table 2. Expected COD removal eciency, 90 94
The reactor was composed of ®ve 2.88 m PVC tube ECOD (%)
Length to diameter ratio, L/D 98 99
stages in series (Fig. 1). Intermediate sampling ports
240 M. Zaiat et al. / Bioresource Technology 71 (2000) 235±243
Fig. 1. Sketch of the pilot-scale horizontal-¯ow anaerobic immobilized biomass (HAIB) reactor.
followed in order to obtain the dimensions of the reactor
as length, diameter, total volume and diameter of the
tube for gas collection besides the size of the particles
used as biomass support.
Initially, the e€ect of the liquid super®cial velocity (ms )
applied to the bed on the total volume of the designed
unit for various particle sizes was checked (Fig. 2). It
can be observed that, in this case, the volume of the unit
(VT ) necessary to treat the wastewater with the eciency
imposed by the model is not in¯uenced by the liquid
super®cial velocity. A substantial decrease in the total
volume was not observed as ms was increased, since the
e€ectiveness factor did not change substantially. How-
ever, the particle equivalent radius in¯uenced VT mainly
due to the intraparticle mass-transfer.
Any value of ms could be assumed for design purposes
since the liquid velocity did not in¯uence the total vol-
ume of the designed unit. However, a limiting value of
1.5 cm sÿ1 (Zaiat et al., 1996) must be used in order to
Fig. 2. Total volume of the HAIB reactor as a function of liquid su-
per®cial velocity and equivalent radius of the particles. Rp (cm) ˆ 0.19
(´), 0.31 (), 0.47 (n) and 0.62 (¨).
avoid cell wash-out from the polyurethane foam parti-
cles. A value of 0.1 cm sÿ1 was assumed in this work,
since its application resulted in a reactor diameter cor-
responding to that of a tube commercially available.
Afterwards, the in¯uence of the size of the particle on
the total volume of the reactor and on the pressure drop
in the bed subjected to the ms of 0.1 cm sÿ1 was evalu-
ated. The size of the cubic particle was varied from a 0.3
to 3.0 cm side, resulting in equivalent radii ranging from
0.19 to 1.86 cm. The results obtained from this analysis
are presented in Figs. 3 and 4.
The size of the particle was found to strongly a€ect
the total volume of the designed unit as observed in
Fig. 3. The e€ectiveness factor (g) increased as the size
of the particle decreased (Fig. 5), resulting in higher
values of overall reaction rate and, consequently, in
lower values of the reactor volume necessary to attain
the expected eciency. The e€ectiveness factor ranged
from 0.63, for cubic bioparticles of 0.3 cm side, to 0.07
Fig. 3. Total volume of the HAIB reactor as a function of the size of
the bioparticles for a ®xed-bed subjected to the ms of 0.1 cm sÿ1 .
 M. Zaiat et al. / Bioresource Technology 71 (2000) 235±243 241

retention time (hh ) of 3.8 h. The overall e€ectiveness

factor (g) was estimated as 0.23. The dimensions of the
designed reactor were previously given (Table 2).
In the case studied here, the solid di€usion resistance
was the limiting factor of the process, and the external
mass-transfer through the stagnant liquid layer around
the bioparticle had no substantial in¯uence on the
overall organic matter degradation rate. It was observed
that the size of the support was very important in ob-
taining an optimized unit.

4.2. Preliminary veri®cation of the mathematical model

Fig. 4. Pressure drop in the ®xed-bed as a function of the size of the and the criteria adopted for reactor designing
bioparticles for a ®xed-bed subjected to the ms of 0.1 cm sÿ1 .
The veri®cation of the mathematical model was car-
ried-out by monitoring the organic matter concentra-
tion, expressed as COD, along the reactor's length. The
results here presented refer to mean values obtained
from samplings taken in di€erent weeks after start-up of
the reactor. The mean temperature of the liquid was
25 ‹ 1°C and the in¯uent pH was found to be 7.3 in all
the samplings.
Although a value for biomass concentration of 23 mg
SSV m Lÿ1 of polyurethane foam had been used in the
model, an experimental value of 15 mg SSV m Lÿ1 of
polyurethane foam was observed in practice. This low
value was, probably, a consequence of the short exper-
imental period. The utilization of the imposed value
would introduce an error in the evaluation of the
Fig. 5. E€ectiveness factor as a function of the size of the bioparticles mathematical model. Therefore, a value of 15 mg SSV m
for a ®xed-bed subjected to the ms of 0.1 cm sÿ1 . Lÿ1 of polyurethane foam was later used in the model in
order to make this evaluation reliable.
The experimental values of COD and the values ob-
when the bed was composed of 3.0 cm side particles. tained by the theoretical model as a function of the
Although the size of the particle a€ected the liquid- length to diameter ratio (L/D) are presented in Table 3
phase mass-transfer coecient (ks ), the solid-phase and Fig. 6.
mass-transfer rate was found to be the limiting step of An e‚uent COD value of 41 mg Lÿ1 was expected
the overall rate. from the theoretical model, but the experimental value
Based on these results, the smaller reactor volume was found to be 71 mg Lÿ1 (based on the ®ltered sam-
would be obtained by utilization of smaller particles, ple). In this case, there was a residual COD value of
since the overall reaction rate increased as the size of the 30 mg Lÿ1 not predicted by the model. However, the
particle decreased. However, the pressure drop in the model predicts that the organic matter will be com-
bed increased measurably for cubic particles smaller pletely converted to methane and carbon dioxide. It was
than 1 cm side. In this situation, a rapid clogging of the
bed could be expected, requiring high power for liquid
pumping. It is, thus, desirable to choose a size of particle Table 3
Experimental and theoretical values of COD along the HAIB reactor
that results in a suitable volume of the reactor being
treating sewage
associated with a small pressure-drop in the bed.
L=D Experimental COD Theoretical COD
It can be observed in Fig. 4 that the pressure drop in
(mg Lÿ1 ) a (mg Lÿ1 )
the bed is practically constant when particles with Rp
In¯uent 341 341
higher than 0.6 cm are used. This point (Rp ˆ 0:6 cm)
20 147 222
was considered as the ``optimum operation point'' in 40 110 143
respect to the particle size. Therefore, it was decided to 60 91 95
use 1 cm side cubic particles corresponding to an Rp of 80 79 61
0.62 cm. The utilization of this particle size resulted in a E‚uent 71 41
HAIB reactor with total volume of 210 l and a hydraulic a
Based on ®ltered samples.
242 M. Zaiat et al. / Bioresource Technology 71 (2000) 235±243
Fig. 6. COD variation along the HAIB reactor's length. Experimental
values (± n ±) and values predicted by the mathematical model ( ± ± ± ).
experimentally observed that the e‚uent total volatile
acids concentration was approximately 20 mg HAc Lÿ1 .
In this way, the residual COD not predict by the model
would be only 10 mg Lÿ1 . The observed deviation could
be attributed to several factors, such as:
Low precision in determining the design parameters
related to kinetics and mass-transfer.
There is actually a residual COD fraction in sewage
that is not biologically degraded. This residue would
limit the performance of anaerobic systems for domestic
sewage treatment. In this case, a kinetic limitation would
occur. This fraction could also be composed of inter-
mediate metabolites or dissolved reduced compounds
such as sul®de which are not considered in the theoret-
ical model.
Possible problems related to liquid- and solid-phase
mass-transfer limitations in the last stages of the reac-
tor, since in these segments the substrate concentration
is very low, thus resulting in low concentration gradi-
ents between the bulk liquid and the bioparticles. Be-
cause of this, the dissolved substrate in the bulk liquid
cannot be directly available to the biomass inside the
particles.
A single intrinsic kinetic parameter is adopted in the
mathematical model for the whole system. According to
Vieira et al. (1996), variation of the kinetic parameter
should occur along the reactor length due to variations
in the substrate composition and the nature of the
biocatalyst. The kinetic parameter for glucose-based
substrate consumption in the initial reactor segment
was found to be six times higher than the parameter
estimated in the ®nal segment. It can be observed in
Fig. 6 that the experimental values of COD obtained at
L/D of 20 and 40 (®rst and second segments) were lower
than the values predicted by the theoretical model. As a
consequence, the experimental COD removal ecien-
cies were higher than expected. So, the value of the
intrinsic kinetic parameter in these segments must be
higher than that adopted for design purposes and the
overall reaction rates must be higher than the rates
predict by the mathematical model. The opposite occurs
in the last two stages: the values of COD predicted by
the model were lower than the experimental ones. In
this case, the actual intrinsic kinetic parameter must be
lower than the adopted parameter. The experimental
COD value observed at L/D of 60 (third stage) is similar
to that predicted by the mathematical model. In this
stage a more equilibrated mixed culture must have de-
veloped. Therefore, the intrinsic kinetic parameter
adopted in the model better represents the condition
attained in this segment. Although the adoption of
di€erent kinetic parameters along the reactor length
would be desirable to provide better results, practical
applications of such a procedure can be dicult and,
sometimes, impracticable.
If the hypothesis of kinetic limitation or mass-transfer
resistance is true, there is no need to impose such high
COD removal eciencies as were adopted in the model
(90%). The adoption of eciencies around 75±80%
would be sucient to design a reactor that provides
suitable operation. In the case studied, the adoption of a
COD removal eciency of 80% (e‚uent COD of 68 mg
Lÿ1 ) as design criterion would result in a reactor with a
total volume of 179 l, and the hydraulic retention time
would be 3.2 h. This reactor would be equivalent to four
stages of the pilot-scale plant here evaluated with L/D of
80. In fact, the ®ltered COD was 79 mg Lÿ1 at L/D of 80,
thus resulting in a COD removal eciency of 77%. The
non-®ltered COD at this point, however, was 119 mg
Lÿ1 and the COD removal eciency, 65%. Therefore,
the assumption of high COD removal eciency values
in the model for design purposes can be necessary as a
safety factor, since the proposed model does not con-
sider volatile suspended solids and volatile acids in the
e‚uent.
5. Conclusions
The mathematical model proposed for design pur-
poses was found to be suitable though some devia-
tions between experimental and theoretical data were
observed.
The model assumed that the in¯uent COD could be
completely converted to methane and carbon dioxide.
Thus, any reactor eciency could be achieved by
adopting a proper L/D ratio, a single biochemical kinetic
parameter, a proper biomass concentration, and by
calculating an e€ectiveness factor based on the operating
conditions. In fact, the model did not consider the vol-
atile suspended solids production resulting from COD
conversion nor the changing in the kinetic parameter
along the reactor as the substrate composition and the
characteristics of the biocatalyst changed. Also, it did
not consider the fraction of non-biodegradable COD
resulting from anaerobic processes. However, the model
can be successfully applied, even assuming some sim-
pli®cations, and a safety factor can be adopted by the
 M. Zaiat et al. / Bioresource Technology 71 (2000) 235±243
assumption of a high COD removal eciency as a cri-
terion in the design stage.
The improvement of the model, without it becoming
too complicated and impracticable for practical appli-
cations, is a challenge to be confronted in future
researches.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the ®nancial support re-
ceived for this work from FINEP ± Financiadora de
Projetos and the grant received from CNPq ± Cons-
elho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientõ®co e Tec-
nol
ogico.
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