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A strategy to scale up nitrification processes with immobilized cells of nitrosomonas europaea and nitrobacter agilis

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Abstract

A scale-up strategy for a nitrification process with immobilized cells is presented. The complete description of such a process for a wide range of conditions is time consuming or even impossible. For a successful scale up of the process knowledge of the rate-limiting step is essential. To estimate the rate-limiting step a regime analysis was used. A new element in this regime analysis is a solid third phase in which cells grow non-homogeneously. Three different conditions of the nitrification process were considered: low temperature (7°C) with a low ammonia concentration (2 mM), and optimal temperature (30°C) with an ammonia concentration of 2 and 250 mM. The regime analysis proved to be a helpful tool for the understanding of the process and for establishing the rate-limiting step. A set of design rules for the different nitrification conditions was obtained from the results of this regime analysis.

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Abbreviations

a g m2m−3 :

specific surface area of a gas bubble gas phase

a lg m2m−3 :

surface area of the liquid/gas liquid phase inter phase

a ls m2m−3 :

surface area of the solid/liquid liquid phase inter phase

a s m2m3 :

specific surface area of a gelbead solid phase

d b m:

gas bubble diameter

d p m:

biocatalyst particle diameter

E a Jmol−1 :

activation energy

g ms−2 :

gravitational acceleration

H m3 m−3 :

Henry coefficient

\(\mathbb{D}\) m2s−1 :

diffusion coefficient

k lg ms−1 :

mass transfer coefficient for gas to liquid phase

k ls ms−1 :

mass transfer coefficient for liquid to solid phase

K s molm−3 :

substrate affinity constant

m s molN (kg biomassa)−1s−1 :

maintenance coefficient

R Jmol−1 K−1 :

gas constant

S molm−3 :

substrate concentration

S sur molm−3 :

substrate concentration at surface of the biocatalyst

S bulk mol m−3 :

substrate concentration in bulk phase

Y kgmol−1 :

yield coefficient for biomass on substrate

X kgm−3 :

biomass concentration

Z dimensionless:

temperature effected parameter value

z t8 dimensionless:

temperature independent parameter value

ɛ g m3gas m−3 :

gas hold up liquid

ɛ s m3 solid m−3 liquid:

solid phase hold up

η i dimensionless:

effectiveness factor

λ i m2Smol−1 :

molar ionic conductivity

τ s:

characteristic time

τ g s:

τ for growth

τ oex s:

τ for oxygen exhaustion of gas bubbles

τ olg s:

τ for oxygen transfer from gas to liquid phase

τ liqret s:

τ for the liquid retention time

τ gasret s:

τ for the gas retention time

τ ils s:

τ for substrate (i) transfer from liquid to solid phase

τ mix s:

τ for mixing of liquid phase

τ circ s:

τ for liquid circulation in air-lift loop reactor

τ ikin s:

τ for substrate (i) conversion

τ iconv s:

τ for substrate (i) conversion in the biocatalyst

μ max s−1 :

maximum specific growth rate

ω Nsm−2 :

dynamic viscosity

ρ l kgm−3 :

density of liquid phase

ρ s kgm−3 :

density of solid phase

i:

NH4, NO −2 , NO3 and Ns, Nb for N. europaea, N. agilis, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Science, Food and Bioprocess Engineering Group, Agricultural University, Wageningen, P.O. box 8129, 6700, EV Wageningen, The Netherlands

    J. H. Hunik, J. Tramper & R. H. Wijffels

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  1. J. H. Hunik
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  2. J. Tramper
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  3. R. H. Wijffels
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This project was supported by the European Community in the programme Science and Technology for Environmental Protection (ref. STEP-CT91-0123).

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Hunik, J.H., Tramper, J. & Wijffels, R.H. A strategy to scale up nitrification processes with immobilized cells of nitrosomonas europaea and nitrobacter agilis. Bioprocess Engineering 11, 73–82 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00389563

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