Symbols

Description

Units

$A_S$

Biofilm specific area per unit volume of the biofilters

m⁻¹

E

Activation energy

J∙mol⁻¹

$k_m$

Michaelis-Menten constant

g∙m⁻³

u

Superficial velocity of gas flow

m∙s⁻¹

z

Dimension along the height of the biofilters

m

D

Effective diffusivity of n-butanol in the biofilm phase and gas phase.

m²∙s⁻¹

$S=\frac{C}{H}=S_i$

Initial concentration of butanol in the biofilm

g∙m⁻³

R

Ideal gas constant

J/Kelvin mole

T

Kelvin temperature (initial)

˚C

$T_{ref}$

Kelvin temperature (final)

˚C

$E{C}_{\max }$

Maximum of elimination capacity

g∙m⁻³∙h⁻¹

$\delta$

Biofilm thickness

m

C

Concentration of n-butanol in the gas phase

g∙m⁻³

$C_i$

Concentration of n-butanol in the inlet gas phase

g∙m⁻³

H

Total height of the biofilters

m

$S^{*}=\frac{S}{S_i}$

Dimensionless concentration of n-butanol in the biofilm

none

$x^{*}=\frac{x}{\delta }$

Dimensionless height of the biofilm

none

$\varphi =\frac{{\delta }^2{\text{e}}^{-\frac{E}{R}\left(\frac{1}{T}-\frac{1}{T_{ref}}\right)}E{C}_{\max }}{D{k}_m}$

Thiele modulus

none

$\beta =\frac{S_i}{k_m}$

Characteristic length

none

$C^{*}=\frac{C}{C_i}$

Dimensionless concentration of n-butanol in the gas phase

none

$z^{*}=\frac{z}{H}$

Dimensionless height of the biofilters

none

$A=\frac{H{A}_s{D}_{}{S}_i}{u\delta C_i}$

Dimensionless parameter

none