<div>Replying to gfosterreid...</div><div><br></div><div>I have never tried a textile support but I see no reason why a textile would not work, provided the fibre is inorganic - anything organic would biodegrade in time - and dimensionally stable, so that flow channels stay open. One could imagine a number of different configurations.</div>
<div><br></div><div>The potential for internal growth depends on (a) what you mean by internal and (b) how the fibre is configured. There would be no growth within a polymer monofilament but there would in the interstices of, say, a length of yarn or a panel of cloth spun or woven from same. Growth might occur within hollow fibres - but only if there was some way for an inoculum to get in. (There are parallels here with the use of hollow-fibre ultra-filtration units as the basis for an attached-growth bioreactor.)</div>
<div><br></div><div>I am not so sure there would be an effective increase in <i>active</i> biomass per unit volume, however, even in <i>anaerobic</i> conditions. Do you have any data? My guess is that metabolism in the interstitial growth would be severely limited by mass-transfer rates once the biomass film is well grown. (In simple language, the bugs at the surface would eat all the food and keep growing, while those beneath would merely survive, on a 'starvation' diet.)</div>
<div><br></div><div>In <i>aerobic </i>conditions, I think it's even less likely that there would be an effective increase in <i>active</i> biomass per unit volume, because oxygen transfer rates <i>often</i> limit the rate of metabolism in the deeper zones of a biomass film. </div>
<div><br></div><div>One advantage of a textile substrate, however, might be quick recovery from a process upset causing loss of the biomass film. Any surviving interstitial growth would provide a well-adapted, well-distributed inoculum, enabling faster regrowth of an adequate biomass film.</div>
<div><br></div><div>It's an interesting idea. More info would be interesting.</div><div><br></div><div>Duncan Martin</div><div>Cloughjordan Ecovillage</div><div>Ireland</div><div><a href="http://www.thevillage.ie">www.thevillage.ie</a></div>
<div><br></div><div><br></div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 16 February 2011 13:25, <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:gfosterreid@gmail.com">gfosterreid@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
Duncan,<br>
I know of a design for a aerobic recirculating filter bed system that uses a porous textile. In this setup, the bacteria adhere to the external AND internal surfaces - making for a much smaller treatment unit. Would this work here?<br>
<br>
Sent from my BlackBerry® device from Digicel<br>
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From: Duncan Martin <<a href="mailto:duncanjmartin@gmail.com">duncanjmartin@gmail.com</a>><br>
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Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2011 10:08:30<br>
To: For Discussion of Anaerobic Digestion<<a href="mailto:digestion@lists.bioenergylists.org">digestion@lists.bioenergylists.org</a>><br>
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Subject: Re: [Digestion] Digestion of Honey Waste<br>
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