| Xenobiotics are industrially-produced organic compounds which are recalcitrant to biological degradation and therefore accumulate in the environment. These compounds are often toxic to microbes, even at relatively low concentrations, and their accumulation has led to the need for efficient treatment methods. The two-phase partitioning bioreactor is a biotreatment concept that allows for high loading of a xenobiotic substrate into an immiscible and biocompatible organic phase, and a subsequent partitioning of the at sub-inhibitory concentrations, which substrate into a cell-containing aqueous phase vary in response to the consumption rate of the cells.;In this thesis, a dynamic model for the a fed-batch partitioning bioreactor was developed including substrate balances the organic bioreactor. Key process characteristics, including substrate transfer between the organic and aqueous phases, substrate inhibition, oxygen limitation and cell entrainment were incorporated into the model. The model predictions were validated against two sets of existing experimental data and good correlation was observed for the time frames of the simulations, as well as for trends in cell, aqueous phase phenol and organic phase phenol concentrations. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
