Parallel Batch Reactors Research Articles

Model Predictive Control (MPC)-Based Supervisory Control and Design of Off-Gas Recovery Plant with Periodic Disturbances from Parallel Batch Reactors

This paper proposes a plantwide control structure and a model predictive control (MPC) scheme for the effective separation of off-gas from a polysilicon plant with periodic disturbances in the feed. The target process studied in this work produces 10 000 MT of polysilicon per year with 28 chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactors. CVD reaction kinetic models were constructed, and their parameters were identified using a genetic algorithm. Aspen Dynamics was used to model the off-gas recovery process and implement proportional–integral (PI) controllers for regulating the inventory levels. A centralized supervisory layer based on MPC, to minimize the fluctuation of the recovered concentration, was linked with regulatory controllers through a MATLAB/SIMULINK environment. Using a rigorous plantwide dynamic model, four cases were studied with different control schemes with and without buffer tanks. The proposed control strategy showed better performance, compared with fully decentralized classical proportional–integral–derivative (PID) schemes. It is thus expected that the developed control strategy will be able to achieve the design of batch-continuous processes with periodic disturbances. The benefits of using the multivariable MPC approach as a supervisory layer are shown and analyzed using Aspen Plus, Aspen Dynamics, and MATLAB/SIMULINK.

Acute impact of tetracycline on the utilization of acetate by activated sludge sustained under different growth conditions

The study evaluated acute impact of tetracycline on the biodegradation of acetate by microbial cultures acclimated to different growth conditions. Two fill/draw reactors were operated to obtain acclimated cultures at sludge ages of 2 and 10days. Acclimated biomass seeding was used in two series of batch experiments. The first run served as control and others were started with tetracycline doses of 100mg/L and 400mg/L. Parallel batch reactors were also operated for oxygen uptake rate (OUR) measurements. Acute impact was evaluated by model calibration of OUR, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and intracellular storage profiles. Exposure to tetracycline did not impair COD removal but induced a shift in acetate utilization toward polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) storage. This shift was more pronounced for fast growing biomass; it identified itself both in related process kinetics and the modified stoichiometry between the magnitude of acetate directly used for microbial growth and converted to PHB.

Acute effect of erythromycin on metabolic transformations of volatile fatty acid mixture under anaerobic conditions

The study explored the acute inhibitory impact of erythromycin on the methanogenic activity of acclimated biomass fed with a volatile fatty acid mixture and acetate alone. Parallel batch reactors were operated for six days, with increasing erythromycin dosing in the range of 1–1000mgL−1. Substrate removal was monitored by means of soluble COD and volatile fatty acid (VFA) measurements together with parallel observations on biogas and methane generation. The inhibitory impact was variable with the initial erythromycin dose: At lower doses, the VFA mixture was completely removed but partially utilized, leading to reduced biogas and methane generation, suggesting the analogy of uncompetitive inhibition. At higher doses, propionate utilization was totally impaired and butyrate removal was reduced, but acetate was still fully removed. Remaining VFAs were partly converted to new VFA compound through isomerization and polymerization reactions. High erythromycin doses induced total inactivation of microbial metabolism with negligible methane generation.

Acute impact of tetracycline and erythromycin on the storage mechanism of polyhydroxyalkanoates

The study investigated acute impact of tetracycline and erythromycin on substrate storage under aerobic conditions. A fill and draw reactor fed with peptone mixture was maintained at steady-state at a sludge age of 10 days; the acclimated biomass was used in a series of batch runs. The first run served as control reactor with organic substrate alone and the others were started with antibiotic doses of 50mg/L and 200mg/L for assessing intracellular storage. Parallel batch reactors were also conducted for recording oxygen uptake rate profiles. Both antibiotics enhanced substrate storage, leading to higher levels of polyhydroxyalkanoates incorporated into biomass, but they impaired its internal utilization for microbial growth. The observed decrease in oxygen consumption under the acute effect of antibiotics could partially be related to substrate storage – except for 50mg/L of erythromycin dosing – suggesting an additional substrate binding mechanism by antibiotics, leading to residual biodegradable substrate.

Chronic effect of erythromycin on substrate biodegradation kinetics of activated sludge

This study evaluated the chronic impact of erythromycin, a macrolide antibiotic, on microbial activities, mainly focusing on changes in process kinetics induced on substrate biodegradation and all related biochemical processes of microbial metabolism. Experiments involved two fill/draw reactors sustained at steady state at two different sludge ages of 10 and 2.0 days, fed with peptone mixture and continuous erythromycin dosing of 50mg/L. Oxygen uptake rate profiles were generated in a series of parallel batch reactors seeded with biomass from fill/draw systems at selected periods of steady-state operation. Experimental data were evaluated by model calibration reflecting inhibitory effect on process kinetics: continuous erythromycin dosing inhibited microbial growth, reduced the rate of hydrolysis, blocked substrate storage and accelerated endogenous respiration. Adverse impact was mainly due to changes inflicted on the composition of microbial community. Interruption of erythromycin feeding resulted in partial recovery of microbial response. Sludge age affected the nature of inhibition, indicating different process kinetics for faster growing microbial community. Kinetic evaluation additionally revealed the toxic effect of erythromycin, which inactivated a fraction of biomass. Mass balance using oxygen uptake rate data also identified a stoichiometric impact, where a fraction of available substrate, although completely removed, could not be utilized in metabolic activities.

Respirometric assessment of substrate binding by antibiotics in peptone biodegradation

The study evaluated the inhibitory impact of antibiotics on the biodegradation of peptone mixture by an acclimated microbial culture under aerobic conditions. A fill and draw reactor fed with the peptone mixture defined in the ISO 8192 procedure and sustained at steady state at a sludge age of 10 days was used as the biomass pool with a well-defined culture history. Acute inhibition experiments involved running six parallel batch reactors seeded with biomass from the fill and draw reactor and the same peptone mixture together with pulse feeding of 50 mg/L and 200 mg/L of Sulfamethoxazole, Erythromycin and Tetracycline. Substrate utilization was evaluated by observing the respective oxygen uptake rate profiles and compared with a control reactor, which was started with no antibiotic addition. While all available external substrate was removed from solution, addition of antibiotics induced a significant decrease in the amount of oxygen consumed, indicating that a varying fraction of peptone mixture was blocked by the antibiotic and did not participate to the on-going microbial growth mechanism. This observation was also compatible with the concept of the uncompetitive inhibition mechanism, which defines a similar substrate blockage through formation of an enzyme- inhibitor complex.

Biodegradation kinetics of peptone and 2,6-dihydroxybenzoic acid by acclimated dual microbial culture

This study evaluated the kinetics of simultaneous biodegradation of peptone mixture and 2,6-dihydroxybenzoic acid (2,6-DHBA) by an acclimated dual microbial culture under aerobic conditions. A laboratory-scale sequencing batch reactor was sustained at steady-state with peptone mixture feeding. During the study period, peptone mixture feeding was continuously supplemented with 2,6-DHBA. Related experimental data were derived from three sets of parallel batch reactors, the first fed with the peptone mixture, the second with 2,6-DHBA and the third one with the two substrates, after acclimation of microbial culture and simultaneous biodegradation of both organics. A mechanistic model was developed for this purpose including the necessary model components and process kinetics for the model calibration of relevant experimental data. Model evaluation provided all biodegradation characteristics and kinetics for both peptone mixture and 2,6-DHBA. It also supported the development of a dual microbial community through acclimation, with the selective growth of a second group of microorganisms specifically capable of metabolizing 2,6-DHBA as an organic carbon source.

Nitrogen transformations and mass balances in anaerobic/anoxic/aerobic batch experiments with full-scale biomasses from BNR activated sludge systems

The aim of this study was to investigate nitrogen mass balances occurring inside full-scale BNR activated sludge systems, with special attention to colloidal and dissolved organic nitrogen (CON and DON) transformations. For this purpose, laboratory experiments were carried out using process biomass from two large BNR plants in northern Poland. Two parallel batch reactors were operated in a 3-phase (anaerobic/anoxic/aerobic) cycle. In one reactor, the settled wastewater without any pretreatment was used, whereas the settled wastewater after coagulation-flocculation (to remove colloidal and particulate fractions) was added to another reactor. The chemical pretreatment of settled wastewater with ZnSO(4) did not adversely affect the observed nitrification rates in the (last) aerobic phase. It caused, however, a reduction of denitrification rates in the anoxic phase. Moreover, the chemical pretreatment did not appear to generally decrease DON but decreased CON. DON was explicitly produced in the aerobic phase and organic nitrogen conversion also occurred at a significant rate in the anoxic phase with biodegradable COD consumption and solids hydrolysis. The inorganic N mass balances revealed N losses up to approximately 10% which could be attributed to a few novel pathways of nitrogen removal, most likely aerobic denitrification or simultaneous nitrification/denitrification.

Short-Term Scheduling of Batch Plants with Parallel Reactors Forming Mobile Workgroups

We address the problem of short-term scheduling of parallel batch reactors followed by continuously operating finishing trains to form workgroups which is motivated by a real world problem at the Dow Chemical Co. The proposed MILP formulation is based on the recent planning model of Erdirik-Dogan and Grossmann (AIChE J. 2007, 53, 2284−2300) and features additional constraints for handling complex arrangements arising from the workgroups. Several examples are presented to illustrate the proposed model.

Planning models for parallel batch reactors with sequence‐dependent changeovers

AbstractIn this article we address the production planning of parallel multiproduct batch reactors with sequence‐dependent changeovers, a challenging problem that has been motivated by a real‐world application of a specialty chemicals business. We propose two production planning models that anticipate the impact of the changeovers in this batch processing problem. The first model is based on underestimating the effects of the changeovers that leads to an MILP problem of moderate size. The second model incorporates sequencing constraints that yield very accurate predictions, but at the expense of a larger MILP problem. To solve large scale problems in terms of number of products and reactors, or length of the time horizon, we propose a decomposition technique based on rolling horizon scheme and also a relaxation of the detailed planning model. Several examples are presented to illustrate the performance of the proposed models. © 2007 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2007

Scalability of Microwave-Assisted Organic Synthesis. From Single-Mode to Multimode Parallel Batch Reactors

The direct scalability of microwave-assisted organic synthesis (MAOS) in a prototype laboratory-scale multimode microwave batch reactor is investigated. Several different organic reactions have been scaled-up typically from 1 mmol to 100 mmol scale. The transformations include multicomponent chemistries (Biginelli dihydropyrimidine and Kindler thioamide synthesis), transition metal-catalyzed carbon−carbon cross-coupling protocols (Heck and Negishi reactions), solid-phase organic synthesis, and Diels−Alder cycloaddition reactions using gaseous reagents in prepressurized reaction vessels. A range of different solvents (high and low microwave absorbing), Pd catalysts (homogeneous and heterogeneous), and varying reaction times and temperatures have been explored in these investigations. In all cases, it was possible to achieve similar isolated product yields on going from a small scale (ca. 5 mL processing volume) to a larger scale (max 500 mL volume) without changing the previously optimized reaction conditi...

PLS discriminant analysis with contribution plots to determine differences between parallel batch reactors in the process industry

PLS discriminant analysis, applied to a PVC polymerisation batch process, is used to determine performance differences of parallel batch reactors. Weight contribution plots of time points and of variables are used to physically interpret the modelled differences; the main time points in which deviations occur and variables that cause the observed differences are assigned. A simple step-wise procedure is suggested to implement this method in the process industry. It was found that a systematic difference between the polymerisation time of the PVC batch reactors was caused by sensor failure or due to drifting thermocouples.

A description of three methods for the determination of the initial inert particulate chemical oxygen demand of wastewater

AbstractThree different methods are described for the determination of the initial inert particulate organics, measured in terms of COD. The methods involve experimental procedures using batch reators and are designed to differentiate residual particulate products generated by metabolic activities during the treatment processes. In the first method, the final threshold value of the particulate COD is monitored in an aerated batch reactor fed by the initial total COD. The second method uses the threshold values of the total and soluble COD in two parallel batch reactors, one fed with unfiltered and the other with filtered wastewater. The third method involves running three batch reactors, two with the wastewater to be studied and the thired with glucose. One method has been experimentally tested to assess the inert particulate fractions of domestic and textile wastewaters.