Journal article
Impacts of Reynolds number on nitrification biofilm kinetics
Aquacultural engineering, Vol.24(3), pp.213-229
2001
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/117851
Abstract
Nutrient mass flux is often a limiting factor determining the efficiency of a fixed film bio-reactor. The relationship between total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) removal rate and the Reynolds number (
Re) in a steady-state nitrification fixed biofilm system was investigated in this study through measurement of the ammonia removal rate in a long plastic tubular reactor and analysis of mass transport across a fixed biofilm. The results indicate that hydraulic condition is an important factor limiting TAN removal rate. For a fixed substrate concentration, TAN removal rate at
Re=66 710 was about five times of that at
Re=1668. These results suggest that the performance of nitrification biofilters could be significantly improved by increasing the Reynolds number of the flow over the biofilm surface. An empirical relationship was developed to obtain an estimate of the Sherwood number (
Sh=0.13
Re
0.63
Sc
1/3,
Sc is Schmidt number) for the Reynolds number ranging from 1668 to 66 710. The thickness of the boundary layer (or water film) can be determined, and simulation can be performed to better understand the hydrodynamics of fixed biofilm nitrification based on the Sherwood number equation.
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Details
- Title
- Impacts of Reynolds number on nitrification biofilm kinetics
- Creators
- Songming ZhuShulin Chen
- Publication Details
- Aquacultural engineering, Vol.24(3), pp.213-229
- Academic Unit
- Biological Systems Engineering, Department of
- Publisher
- Elsevier B.V
- Identifiers
- 99900582326701842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article