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Paller I9 <br />gravel biofilter, predicted ammonia removal rates were reasonably <br />accurate (within 9% of the actual rates) until the hydraulic loading <br />rate was reduced to 12.5% of the original value; to the granular <br />carbon biofilter, substantial (30%) differences between predicted <br />and observed values occurred when the hydraulic loading rate was <br />reduced to 25% of the original value. A change in hydraulic loading <br />rate from 44 to 11 ml/cmz/minute affected the performance of the <br />granular carbon biofilter more than the gravel biofilter, because this <br />change caused the granular carbon bed to convert from a stable to a <br />fluidized state. Fluidization caused changes in mass transfer and <br />possibly in biofiim quantity and quality that were- not accommo- <br />dated by the model. At this point, it is impossible to specify the <br />range of hydraulic loading rates over which Equation 13 wtll gener- <br />ate accurate predictions in all cases. However, data from the gravel <br />biofilter suggest that reasonably accurate predictions may be possi- <br />ble with stable (i.e., not fluidized) biofilter beds over atwo-fold to <br />three-fold range of change in hydraulic loading rate. <br />A more speculative use of Equations 13 and 14 is to extrapolate <br />the results of small experimental biofilters to large production scale <br />biofilters that employ the same type of media and design (i.e., flu- <br />idized bed, fined bed, etc.). Although the data needed to verify this <br />capability (i.e., comparative information from bench-scale and pro- <br />duction-scale biofiltration systems) were unavailable, such extrapo- <br />lations are theoretically possible, providing that the previously <br />listed assumptions are met. If the ratio between biofilter volume and <br />flow rate remains the same in both biofilters, Equation 12 simply <br />expands the carrying capacity by an amount proportional to the <br />change in biofilter volume. However, if the ratio between biofilter <br />volume and flow rate differs between the two biofilters, Equation <br />13 also adjusts the carrying capacity estimate for the change in am- <br />monia removal resulting from the change in retention time. <br />Sensitivity Studies <br />Sensitivity studies were conducted to determine how changes in <br />the parameters of the mode! affect the model's output. These stud- <br />ies began with a standard set of parameters: F = 811minute, C = <br />1.61 mg ammonia-nitrogen/l; A = 0.1232 mg ammonia-nitrogen/ <br />