Lehigh University

Derick Gerdts Brown

Arup K SenGupta

Yu Tian

Andrew J Coleman

Horace Keith Moo-Young

An anaerobic biological reactor comprising an anaerobic digester having a chamber configured to receive a microbial suspension, a chamber inlet configured to direct an organic waste stream into the digester, and ion-exchange fibers within the chamber in position to contact and chemically react with microbial suspension received into the chamber. A method for treating organic waste with a methane-producing anaerobic biological reactor comprise providing a methane-producing anaerobic biological reactor comprising an anaerobic digester containing a microbial suspension comprising acetogenic bacteria, methanogenic bacteria and a plurality of ion exchange fibers, introducing organic waste into the anaerobic digester, maintaining the microbial suspension in contact with the organic waste and at least a portion of the plurality of ion-exchange fibers for a period of time and under conditions sufficient to treat the organic waste and produce methane, and removing the treated organic waste and methane from the anaerobic digester.

In-situ, self-adjusting stability control of methane-producing anaerobic biological reactors through novel use of ion exchange fibers

The present invention provides a method and apparatus or system for determining an amount of coal tar that can enter, and subsequently be displaced from, a given type of soil for a range of depths of the soil. The method and apparatus also provide verification of the pressure at which coal tar can be displaced from a given type of soil. In particular, the method and apparatus simulate the hydrostatic pressure that a soil sample encounters in the subsurface of the ground. Accordingly, the method and apparatus provide a relationship between the concentration of coal tar in the soil and the pressure required to displace the coal tar from the soil, which allows for an estimation of the amount of coal tar that may be displaced at a particular location or site. Further, the method and apparatus are adaptable for use in the laboratory or the field.

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Bethlehem, PA, United States of America

Derick Gerdts Brown