Experimental Study of Biodegradation of Ethanol and Toluene Vapors

Table 5.1 Optimum Parameters for Ethanol Bioremediation
Parameters (units) Symbol Value Units
max
The Maximum Yield Y xe
0.59 ± 0.002
The Maximum Specific Rate of
max
μ xe
0.56 ± 0.01 1/h
Biomass Synthesis
The Half Saturation Constant of K e
0.026 ± 0.008 C-mol/L
Biomass Synthesis
m
s , e
The Specific Maintenance Rate 0.053 ± 0.006 C-mol/C-mol-h
Table 5.2 Optimum Parameters for Benzyl Alcohol Bioremediation
Parameters Symbol Value Units
The Maximum Yield
max
Y xb
0.45 ± 0.01
The Maximum Specific Rate of
max
μ xb
0.42 ± 0.01 1/h
Biomass Synthesis
The Half Saturation Constant of
Biomass Synthesis
K b
0.022 ± 0.007 C-mol/L
The Specific Maintenance Rate
1
m ,
0.030-0.072 C-mol/C-mol h
The Maximum Substrate Conc. C b,max
0.19 ± 0.01 C-mol/L
Inhibition Power n 0.3 ± 0.07
s b
1 Due to the inhibition of benzyl alcohol, the maintenance for growth varied from 0.014 to 0.072 C-
mol/C-mol h for benzyl alcohol initial concentrations ranging from 0.05 to 0.19 C-mol/L.
Figures 5.3(a-e) show the simulation results for five individual runs of ethanol
bioremediation using the optimum parameters in Table 5.1. The parity plots presented
in Figures 5.4 (a-b) compare the simulation results with the batch experimental results
of ethanol bioremediation at different initial ethanol concentrations. The dash lines in
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