(602ak) Comparing Performance and Re-Acclimation of Two Phase Partitioning Bioreactor and Ordinary Bioreactor Under Starvation Period

Biological treatment plants operated for the
removal of pollutants from waste streams are often exposed to periods of no chemical
load (starvation periods). The length of such periods can range from a few
hours (due to facility operation for a fraction of the day) to a few weeks or
months (shut down for factory retooling, equipment maintenance, holiday breaks,
process changes) and can negatively affect the elimination capacity of
biological processes In the present study, we compare the performance of a two
phase partitioning bioreactor(TPPB) and an ordinary bioreactor
(OB) after being exposed to hexane starvation period. In OB, after 3 of days
starvation period the removal efficiency was reduced by 99%, and about 6 days
were needed to recover the initial removal efficiency when the hexane feeding
resumed. In contrast, in the TPPB the hexane removal efficiency was not changed
significantly and recovered to its initial removal efficiency within 10 hours.
The results of this study show that the TPPB system can effectively sustain the
biological treatment of waste gas during starvation periods of hydrophobic
pollutants.