Operation optimization of Thiobacillus thioparus CHl 1 biofilter
for hydrogen sulfide removal
Simple kinetic models of sulfide removal and bacterial growth was proposed to describe the operation
of the biofilter. The radial H2S concentration gradient in the flowing gas is to be neglected so is the H2S
concentration in the biofilm at certain axial distance. Meanwhile, the rate of H2S degradation was
approximated by Monod type equation.
The obtained simultaneous ordinary differential equations solved by Runge-Kutta method. Comparing
the calculated results and the experimental data, it can be concluded that model proposed can
sufficiently describe the performance of the H2S removal. The suitable values of the parameters are as
follows: mmax = 0.0000007 (s1
), KS = 0.0000039 (g cm3
), kG = 0.0086 (cm s1
), HS = 0.9 ((g cm3
)/
(g cm3
)), and Yx/s = 10.
ã