Abstract
Biological reactor designs for the degradation of the toxic compounds methanol and thiodiglycol are compared to determine the smallest volume. Both compounds exhibit substrate-inhibited cell growth behavior. Design equations were used to simulate a continuous stirred tank with cell recycle, continuous stirred tanks in series, and an optimized repeated fed-batch reactor. Thiodiglycol is the primary hydrolysis product of sulfur mustard (2,2′-dichlorodiethyl sulfide), commonly referred to as “mustard gas.≓ Experimental data for the growth ofAlcaligenes xylosoxidans xylososxidans (SH42) on thiodiglycol was fit by an Andrews type inhibition equation, while the data and model for the growth of methanol was taken from the literature. The simulation results indicate that the repeated fed-batch reactor leads to significant volume reduction compared to the other two reactors configurations.
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Abbreviations
- D:
-
dilution rate (l/h)
- F:
-
substrate feed flow rate (L/h)
- Fave :
-
average substrate feed rate for fed-batch reactor (L/h)
- ks :
-
monod constant (mM/L or mg/L)
- ki :
-
inhibition constant (mM/L or mg/L)
- m:
-
maintenance coefficient (l/h)
- rs :
-
rate of substrate utilization (mg/L h or mM/L h)
- rx :
-
rate of cell growth (mg/L h or mM/L h)
- s:
-
substrate concentration (mg/L or mM/L)
- t:
-
time (h)
- t0 :
-
initial time (h)
- tfill :
-
time required for exponential fill (h)
- Tf :
-
total processing time required for fed-batch reactor (h)
- V:
-
reactor volume (L)
- Vmax :
-
maximum volume for fedbatch reactor (L)
- V0 :
-
optimum drawdown volume (V)
- Vi :
-
volume to which rapid fill is terminated (V)
- x:
-
cell mass concentration (mg/L or OD)
- xi :
-
cell concentration during exponential phase of cell growth (mg/L or OD)
- xf :
-
final cell concentration (mg/L or OD)
- υx/s :
-
constant yield (mg cells/mg methanol or OD cells/mM/L thiodiglycol)
- υx/s(s):
-
variable yield (mg cells/mg methanol or OD cells/mM/L thiodiglycol).
- α:
-
recycle ratio based on flow rates (dimensionless)
- Β:
-
ratio of cell concentration in the cell recycle stream to the cell concentration in the feed stream (dimensionless)
- γ:
-
death rate (l/h)
- Μ:
-
specific cell growth rate (l/h)
- Μmax :
-
maximum specific cell growth rate (l/h)
- δ(t):
-
impulse function for rapid fill (l/hr).
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Sines, B.J., Teather, E.W., Harvey, S.P. et al. Investigation of biological reactor designs for treatment of methanol and thiodiglycol waste streams. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 45, 881–895 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02941857
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02941857