Title: Dual role of hydrolysis coefficient in modelling of bioreactors

Authors: Sherien A. Elagroudy, Mohamed H. Abdel-Razik, Mahmoud M. Abd El-Azeem, Fikry H. Ghobrial, Mostafa Warith

Addresses: Faculty of Engineering, Public Works Department, Sanitary and Environmental Section, Ain Shams University, 1 El-Sarayat Street, Abassia, Cairo 11517, Egypt. ' Faculty of Engineering, Public Works Department, Sanitary and Environmental Section, Ain Shams University, 1 El-Sarayat Street, Abassia, Cairo 11517, Egypt. ' Faculty of Engineering, Public Works Department, Sanitary and Environmental Section, Ain Shams University, 1 El-Sarayat Street, Abassia, Cairo 11517, Egypt. ' Faculty of Engineering, Public Works Department, Sanitary and Environmental Section, Ain Shams University, 1 El-Sarayat Street, Abassia, Cairo 11517, Egypt. ' Faculty of Engineering, Civil Engineering Department, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria St., Toronto, Ontario, M5B 2K3, Canada

Abstract: To the authors| knowledge, there is no published work, relating biodegradation and settlement of municipal solid waste (MSW) in bioreactor landfills together. The present mathematical model is developed to simulate the biodegradation of MSW in anaerobic bioreactor landfills and predict the strength of leachate in terms of volatile fatty acid (VFA). The hydrolysis rate constant (k_h) has been found to be the pivot correlating the biodegradation model with the biodegradation-induced settlement model. A biochemical methane potential test was performed to determine the values of (k_h). A MATLAB program is developed to implement the solution of both models. The numerical solution provides the simulation results of many parameters including carbon concentration of the solid waste, aqueous organic acids, VFA, methane, and waste settlement. The simulation results of the biological model and the biodegradation-induced settlement model have been verified with the results obtained through the experimental program and they showed good agreement.

Keywords: biodegradation modelling; biochemical methane potential; hydrolysis coefficient; waste settlement; bioreactor landfills; bioreactors; municipal solid waste; MSW; mathematical modelling; volatile fatty acid; simulation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETM.2010.038011

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, 2010 Vol.13 No.3/4, pp.322 - 335

Published online: 08 Jan 2011 *

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