Oxygen transfer to slurries treated in a rotating drum operated at atmospheric pressure

Bioprocess Biosyst Eng. 2006 Dec;29(5-6):391-8. doi: 10.1007/s00449-006-0088-6. Epub 2006 Nov 3.

Abstract

The objective of this work was to determine (1) the effect of rotational speed (N) and lifters on the oxygen transfer coefficient (k (L)) of a mineral solution and (2) the effect of solids concentration of a slurry soil-mineral solution on k (L), at a fixed value N (0.25 s(-1)); in both cases the treatment was carried out in an aerated rotating drum reactor (RDR) operated at atmospheric pressure. First, the k (L) for the mineral solution was in the range 6.38 x 10(-4)-7.69 x 10(-4) m s(-1), which was of the same order of magnitude as those calculated for closed rotating drums supplied with air flow. In general, k (L) of RDR implemented with lifters was superior or equal to that of RDR without lifters. For RDR implemented with lifters, k (L) increased with N in the range 6.65 x 10(-4)-10.51 x 10(-4) m s(-1), whereas k (L) of RDR without lifters first increased with N up to N = 0.102 s(-1), and decreased beyond this point. Second, regarding soil slurry experiments, an abrupt fall of k (L) (ca. 50%) at low values of the solid concentration (C (v)) and an asymptotic pattern at high C (v) were observed at N = 0.25 s(-1). These results suggest that mass transfer phenomena were commanded by the slurry properties and a semi-empirical equation of the form Sh = f(Re, Sc) seems to corroborate this finding.

Publication types

  • Controlled Clinical Trial
  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Atmosphere
  • Bacteria, Aerobic / metabolism*
  • Bioreactors / microbiology*
  • Cell Culture Techniques / instrumentation*
  • Cell Culture Techniques / methods
  • Computer Simulation
  • Equipment Design
  • Equipment Failure Analysis
  • Models, Biological*
  • Oxygen / chemistry
  • Oxygen / pharmacokinetics*
  • Pilot Projects
  • Pressure
  • Refuse Disposal / methods
  • Rotation
  • Sewage / microbiology*

Substances

  • Sewage
  • Oxygen