IZA@ecs.umass.edu ("Jon Iza, Envir.Eng.Program UMASS") (04/22/89)
Subject: AAFFE-process >Mr. Iza: >In front of me is a copy of M.S. Switzenbaum, et al. August 1978. The >Anaerobic Attached Film Expanded Bed Reactor for the Treatment of >Dilute Organic Wastes. US Department of Commerce, N.T.I.S. >I would be interested what happened to AAFFE, since I lost touch >to some applied aspects of anaerobic treatment. >Thanks, Siegfried M. Schoberth Dr. Schobert: The question should be forwarded to Professor Jewell from U. of Cornell, Ithaca NY, since he is the promotor of this technology. But if we consider as Expanded bed reactors, all reactors with solid carrier particles "expanded" or fluidized beyond the point of minimum fluidization, we should consider also the Fluidized bed. Full scale implementation of those are now working in The Netherlands and France (Gist Brocades v.b.), Spain (Degremont S.A.E.) and other countries. Pilot scale and lab studies are also carried out in many other countries, and most of the research is focused on the use of activated carbon as support, taking advantage of the adsorption characteristics. The problems related with high pumping costs due to the use of sand or heavy material particles are now reduced by using lighter materials like pumice stone, or sintered clay. But the "high-tech" characteristics of the process due to its fast pace (retention times of 4-8 hours) keep down further expansion of the technology. There is no doubt that more knowledge about the overall process and the capability of assess the real status of the system will be of great help for the development of more high-tech anaerobic reactors.