Simulação preliminar de parâmetros cinéticos em reatores biológicos tratando vinhaça

Abstract

Anaerobic digestion currently is shown as a solution both to meet the demand for waste treatment of residential and commercial origin and to generate electricity indirectly, through hydrogen gas and methane. Therefore, several studies have been conducted to verify the potential that each waste has in generating these gases through two approaches: an experimental approach and a mathematical modeling approach, which seeks to simulate the actual behavior of anaerobic digestion. Therefore, this study performed the kinetic analysis by calculating the kinetic constants and subsequent simulation of mathematical models, in two Anaerobic Fluidized Bed Reactors (RALF) in series, one acidogenic (RALF1) and the other methanogenic (RALF2) treating agroindustrial waste from sugar cane (vinasse) for the production of hydrogen and methane. For the simulation of the adapted models, the Vensim PLE ® software was used. For each reactor and variable analyzed (COD, butyric acid, acetic acid, and propionic acid) the hydraulic behavior of piston flow and complete mixing were considered, and reaction orders 1 for COD and 1 and 2 for the others, were also analyzed in the different TDHs to which they were submitted in the experiment (12 and 16 for RALF1 and 12, 6 and 4 for RALF2). The adherence of the curves generated through the simulations was performed through Pearson's correlation coefficient, which had a strong correlation with values of 0.90 to 1, for the degradation of COD and some situations of the metabolites in question, being possible to conclude that with the calculation of the kinetic constants and the approximations of the hydraulic regime to which the reactors were subjected, it is possible to find and simulate a model that approximates the behavior of a real treatment.