BACKGROUND Studies on the removal of styrene from airstreams carried out in pilot‐scale biotrickling filters (BTF) are still scarce thus making its industrial application difficult. Moreover, it seems necessary to develop a comprehensive description of the phenomena occurring in the bioreactor that could be used as a tool for BTF design and performance prediction. RESULTS The removal of styrene from airstreams in a pilot‐scale biotrickling filter (BTF) inoculated with Pseudomonas sp. E‐93486 bacteria was investigated (operational parameters: Vg*= 100–150 m3 h−1, VL*= 8 m3 h−1, Cs0= 0.2–1 g−3, EBRTs = 41–62 s, T = 303 K). The experiments performed during a period of more than 120 days confirmed high effectiveness of the examined process; RE = 78–94.2% was obtained for all the sets of operational parameters. The experimental database was exploited to validate the three mathematical models of the process. All the tested models approximate very well the experimental data; the mean percentage error of the RE value prediction did not exceed 3%. CONCLUSION The formulated approximate simple one‐substrate model (SOSM) described the investigated process with excellent accuracy (eY = 2.72%) and was numerically relatively simple. Therefore, this model was recommended as a useful tool for modelling the biodegradation processes of moderately hydrophobic compounds carried out in a BTF. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry

The work focuses on developing the complex digital shadow of the metallic material microstructure that can predict its evolution during metal forming operations. Therefore, such a digital shadow has to consider all major physical mechanisms influencing the particular investigated phenomenon. The motivation for the work is directly related to the development of modern metallic materials, often of multiphase nature. Such microstructure types lead to local heterogeneities influencing material behaviour and eventually macroscopic properties of the final product. The concept of the digital material shadow, stages of the model development, and examples of practical applications to simulation of microstructure evolution are presented within the work. Capturing local heterogeneities that have a physical origin and eliminating numerical artefacts is particularly addressed. Obtained results demonstrate the capabilities of such a digital microstructure shadow approach in the numerical design of final product properties.

Abstract. The efficiency of the air bio-purification from the mixture of two volatile organic compounds (styrene and p-xylene) was studied. The process was carried out in a pilot-scale trickle-bed bioreactor installation designed to purify ~200 m