Response of a packed bed biological reactor to perturbation of feed concentration and temperature

Abstract

The performance characteristics of a packed bed biological reactor have been analyzed under triangular perturbation of substrate concentration and temperature for zero order, first order and Michaelis‐menten kinetics, respectively. The model equations have been solved by the method of orthogonal collocation. The results show that the mean value of steady‐state conversion is not affected by the perturbation imposed for the case of first order and Michaelis‐Menten kinetics and the response of the reactor is synchronized with the inlet disturbance. However, for the zero order kinetics the response of reactor to its approach to steady state is much slower. It has been concluded that the variation of temperature during the day or changes in the influent condition resulting from different plant operating conditions will not have any adverse effect on the performance of a packed‐bed biological reactor.