DESCRIPTION The reactor on the BE4 is a cylindrical glass vessel with a water jacket for heating. The vessel is supplied with baffles and a variable-speed stirrer for use as a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR). Multi configurable and extremely versatile for both educational and research purposes. It has a self-contained, floor-standing anaerobic tank reactor of 20 litre volume. The stirrer, motor and baffles are removable for non-stirred configurations. The reactor on the BE4 is a cylindrical glass vessel with a water jacket for heating. The vessel is supplied with baffles and a variable speed stirrer for use as a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR). The baffles and stirrer are removable to enable the reactor to be filled with bio-balls and a support grill, to reconfigure the unit as a packed bed reactor. An alternative reactor lid complete with deflector and tri-phase separator is also supplied. This enables the reactor to also be configured as an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor (UASB). The feed into the reactor is provided by a variable-speed peristaltic pump. The lid of the reactor is fitted with a sampling station, which includes ports for instrumentation probes (both temperature and pH) and permits liquid samples to be taken from the reactor at different depths. The reactor temperature is controlled by a recirculating water system in the same way as the BE3 and the same novel system for collecting and measuring the emitted gas is used. Similarly the pH dosing system is identical in concept and the data can be recorded on a PC using the data logger.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS Reactor volume: 20l Heater power: 2kW Jacket temperature: < 60°C Flow rate (Recycle): 55 l/min Feed flow rate: 0.06 to 4.81 l/hr Settler volume:11l (BE4-1) ExperimentalCapabilities Optimising reactor start-up (acclimation of biomass) Effect of temperature, pH, residence time etc. Investigation of hydraulic loading (feed rate) Effect of effluent strength and nutrient deficiency Effect of recirculation ratio and fluidisation Comparing efficiency of different configurations (BE4) Investigation of bacteria type Acidogenesis and methanogenesis process demonstrations