โ Scribed by Mehdi Nemati; Colin Webb
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Thiobacillus ferrooxidans immobilised in biomass support particles with activated carbon coating were used in a packed-bed bioreactor to study the combined effects of chemical and biological catalysis on the oxidation of ferrous iron. The effect of ferrous iron concentration (in the range 5ยฑ 30 kg m ร3 ) and of its volumetric loading on the kinetics of reaction were investigated. With low concentrations of ferrous iron, 5ยฑ10 kg m ร3 , the combined catalysis did not offer a signiยฎcant advantage to oxidation of ferrous iron and the kinetics of reaction were slightly faster than those achieved with just the biological catalyst. With ferrous iron at a concentration of 20 kg m ร3 , the combination of chemical and biological catalysis resulted in a remarkable enhancement of the reaction rate. The maximum oxidation rate of ferrous iron in the presence of combined catalysts, 21.9 kg m ร3 h ร1 , was twice as high as that achieved with just the biological catalyst.
๐ SIMILAR VOLUMES
The kinetics of bacterial oxidation of ferrous iron in the presence of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans cells were studied using an initial-rate method. Measurements of the redox potential of the solution during the oxidation of ferrous iron were used to assess the initial rate of the reaction. Effects on