Study of the hydrodynamic parameters in an internal flat-plate airlift reactor for the increased degradation of newspaper by .

The aim of our study was to characterize the hydrodynamics and mass transfer in a novel internal flat-plate airlift cylindrical reactor to increase the biodegradation of newspaper. We evaluated the degradation kinetics of newspaper in a batch culture with . Gas holdup, mixing time, the Reynolds number, and volumetric mass transfer coefficient () properties were characterized in biphasic and triphasic systems in order to optimize their operational conditions. An analysis of two effective factors in three levels including , and Reynolds number (Re) were optimized by a full factorial design. Furthermore, a follow-up analysis of the ANOVA results  ≤ 0.05 was performed using Tukey's rank test method for -value corrections. The overall (triphasic system) was calculated to be between 2.34 and 14.76 h with an optimal value of 8.0 h (Flow: 3 L min) and a Re of 1757. In addition, to show the optimal conditions, kinetic experiments were developed for 20 days using newspaper as carbon source for quantified the enzyme activities, biomass, residual cellulose, and reducing sugars 1421 IU L CMCase, 8.02, 2.19, and 0.07 g L, respectively. The degradation rate of newspaper was over 80%, which was significantly higher than that of the nominal value. Finally, the theoretical correlation proposed for was compared and estimated with respect to the experimental values with an error of ±20%. The and the Re are important criteria in assessing an optimal degradation of newspaper in an industrial process scale-up.