The numerical model of biosorption of Zn2+ and its application to the bio-electro tower reactor (BETR)

• Developing a novel kinetic model to simulate the bio-electro tower reactor.
• Bio-adsorption and mass transfer process of Zn2+ in BETR was simulated.
• Coefficient η was created to discribe the effect in bio-electro tower reactor.

A 2-D numerical kinetic model considering flow velocity and adsorption is developed to simulate the bio-electro tower reactor (BETR). This new model considers the adsorbed amount when equilibrium qe as transient variable, which is superior to the old pseudo-first-order and the pseudo-second-order model which regards qe as a constant. We did research on the intensifying effect of electric field upon heavy metal ions adsorption process. The calculation result matches well with the experimental data. BETR is a coupling technique whose mechanism is that outer electric field can enhance the mass transfer rate when the solute is metal ions. Two kinds of carriers, pottery ball and 3-dimensional electrode (3DE), were used to support the biofilm layer; and organic wastewater that contains Zn2+ is selected as a sample to validate the model. The 3DE carriers can be polarized by outer electric field, but pottery ball cannot. It is found that Zn2+ transfers faster in 3DE carriers than in pottery ball (insulation materials); and an intensifying coefficientη is introduced to describe this effect in BETR.

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