Estimating biokinetic coefficients in the PACT™ system

When powdered activated carbon (PAC) is continuously added to the aeration tank of an activated sludge reactor, the modification is called a PACT™ process (for powdered activated carbon treatment). The PAC provides many benefits, but complicates the determination of biological phenomena. Determination of bio-oxidation kinetics in a PACT system is a key to fully understanding enhanced biological mechanisms resulting from PAC addition. A model is developed to account for the main mechanisms involved in the PACT system -- adsorption, air stripping and bio-oxidation. The model enables the investigation of biokinetic information, including possible synergistic effects. Six parallel reactors were used to treat a synthetic waste; three activated sludge and three PACT. The PACT reactors provided significantly reduced effluent TOC (total organic carbon). Biokinetic coefficients were obtained from steady-state data using averaged reactor data and by using all data (22 points for each reactor). As expected, the PACT reactors resulted in a substantial reduction in the effluent concentration of non-biodegradable total organic carbon. The Monod equation's half-saturation coefficient (Ks) was reduced significantly in the PACT reactors, resulting in higher growth rates at lower concentrations. The maximum specific substrate utilization (qm) rate was also reduced about 25% using the averaged data and remained unchanged using all the data. The substrate utilization values are affected by errors in biomass determination and more research is needed to accurately determine biomass.