Investigations on Water Pollutant Load Reduction Using Inverse Fluidized Bed Bioreactor

A fluidized bed reactor is employed for three-phase interactions for the treatment of wastewaters using the inversed bed. Specific parameters like gas holdup, bed heights, gas velocities, and spargers are investigated in an experimental setup. The bubble movements governing the flow patterns across the entire process contributed to fabricated wastewater that mimicked the textile effluent (initial value of 1110 ppm) for its aerobic digestion. The purpose of the current study is to reduce chemical oxygen demand (COD) by employing four gas spargers specifically designed as per open percentage area. This inverse phase bioreactor (solid media particle density lower than water) was investigated for its influence by the static bed heights (H) of 4.85 cm and 2.43 cm, which was accompanied by the low gas velocities of the range of 0.343 cm/s and 0.4068 cm/s. εg = 0.0062 Ug 0.995 was the deduced correlation for the gas holdup. The accuracy in the measurements of COD was supported by the statistical values of regression coefficient and standard errors. Attainment of up to 96.9% COD reduction is achieved for synthetic wastewater.