Model for oxygen transfer in rotating biological contactor

Rotating biological contactor is being widely used for wastewater treatment but there is an apparent lack of knowledge about the rate at which oxygen transfer occurs, in physical and biological system. In this study the transfer of oxygen from air to water by a rotating disc air–liquid contactor in physical system is investigated. The oxygen transfer model suggested by Kim and Molof, Water Sci. Technol. 14 (1982) 569, was modified and the developed model is termed as modified Kim and Molof model. The model was calibrated by using available data in literature and validated by experiments conducted in this study. The effect of significant physical parameters was integrated into a single term and is termed as volume renewal number. The modified Kim and Molof model was compared with the other available models. The coefficient of determination (R2) for the modified Kim and Molof model obtained is 0.95 which is much higher than in the other available models. Thereby the model is expected to estimate oxygen transfer more accurately. Further, a simplified linear model between KLa and the volume renewal number is proposed. Both modified Kim and Molof and linear model estimate the overall oxygen transfer coefficient (KLa) accurately.