Evaluation of the effects of AlkylPhenolic compounds on kinetic parameters in a moving bed biofilm reactor

Abstract

Alkylphenols (APs) received great attention in the past decade because they were on the priority hazardous substances list. The kinetics of a lab-scale moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) that was fed with synthetic wastewater containing 4-NonylPhenol (4-NP) and 4-tert-OctylPhenol (4-t-OP) was investigated in this paper. The MBBR reactor was evaluated under different APs, organic loading rates, and hydraulic retention times (HRT). The substrate removal rate was predicted with the first-order, second-order, Stover-Kincannon, and Monod substrate removal models. 4-NP and 4-t-OP pollutants were removed in the different percentages of 87.1 to 99.9 and 83.2 to 99.9, respectively. Biokinetic parameters, like Y, K-S, k, (max), and k(d), that would be favourable to design an MBBR were evaluated. Based on the results, the second-order (Grau), Stover-Kincannon, and Monod models were observed to be the most suitable for this reactor. These models showed high correlation coefficients of about 99.6, 99.1, and 92.9, respectively. Consequently, these models could be utilized in anticipating the performance and design of MBBR reactors.