MODELING AND ENHANCING OF EFFICIENCY OF TRICKLING FILTER PROCESS

Abstract

Trickling filter plants have been justified by their low initial cost, low operating and maintenance costs, and relative simplicity of operation. A Tricking filters are bio-film reactors commonly used for biological removal of nitrogen and organic matter. Trickling filter mechanics are poorly understood. Consequently, there is a general lack of mechanistic mathematical models and design approaches, and the design and operation of trickling filter processes is empirical. There is practically no method available to predict the reactor performance except resorting to studies on laboratory, pilot or full scale plants. A model has been proposed for the evaluation of trickling filter rector using bio-film theory in this study. The development is based on mass balances for substrate and biomass in the reactor, and substrate transport and utilization kinetics. The substrate has been assumed to diffuse into the bio-film via Ficks law. Its degradation described by Monod type equation. The kinetic coefficients and diffusion coefficients for bio-film collected from literature have been constant parameters to the model, the model developed predicts the effluent concentration of substrate from the rector, considering reactor operating characteristics and hence calculate the treatment efficiency. The model was solved using MATLAB software. It has been validated with the experimental data of trickling filter reactor treating sewage. The maximum error shown between the observed and predicted efficiencies are -2.9% and 6.6%. Thus bio-film model predictability is good in the estimation of performance of trickling filter reactors.