Resumen

REYES-LARA, S.  y  REYES-MAZZOCO, R.. Effect of hydraulic and organic loads on the mass removal of a structured packing in a trickling filter. Rev. Mex. Ing. Quím [online]. 2009, vol.8, n.1, pp.101-109. ISSN 1665-2738.

A bench scale study was performed on the behavior of a new structured packing for a trickling filter designed from the model of Thiele's modulus for increasing the removal efficiency of pollutants present in wastewater. For determining the mass removal of COD from the system working at steady state, several organic, (L, kg DQO/m³s), and hydraulic loads, (Q, m³/m² d), were applied according to a factorial experimental design and two types of wastewater. L values were tested in the range of 5 to 72 kg DQO/m³ d, more than ten times higher than values used in sanitary wastewater treatment, to demonstrate that the packing's design is able to handle them. Mass removal was obtained from 3 to 10 kg DQO/m³ d with no limitation of oxygen transfer. Using the kinetic model proposed by Eckenfelder based on L and the specific area of the packing, the treatment of synthetic wastewater produced a value of the kinetic constant of 0.0423 kg DQO/m² d and for the wastewater prepared from whey was 0.0867 kg DQO/m² d.

Palabras llave : trickling filter; organic load; hydraulic load; structured packing.