What is the least possible carrier filling ratio in moving bed biofilm reactor ? Does the carrier fill ratio affect the rate of biofilm development ?
Perhaps I don't understand the question. There is no lower limit for the filling ratio of an MBBR ratio. Only the less carriers the less the performance of the reactor relative to its' volumine. If you make a reactor with 20% filling ratio you need the double volume as if you make a reactor with 40% filling to perform the same treatment.
If you have the same number of carriers relative to the treated water volumine the biofilm develop the same speed. If you compare a reactor with high and low filling the reactor with few carriers will develop biofilm faster as there is more 'food' available fro the bacteria.
it also depends on the type of carriers. 20-40% is appropriate for polyurethane foam.
The material is polypropylene. Actually i do not have a strong air pump which is hindering the the quantity of media to be used. I was wondering how much time will it take if i use 10 % fill.
Biofilm development will be just as fast in a reactor with low filling ratio. MBBR need sufficient agitation to be efficient.
The lowest possible filling ratio that you can use is dependant of the goal that you are be trying to achieve with filling in carriers. If the goal is i.e. Nitrification there will be a minimum surface to install that will assure that the Biofilm will not get so thick due heterotrophic growth that no Nitrification takes place. Otherwise I agree with Henrik that there is no lower limit if we talk Physical limitation. You could also consider using a media like the FLUOPUR media from WABAG that can be kept in motion even with fine bubbles. And about biofilm development this again is depending on what goal you have. If you have a lot of organic load - the less carriers you have the faster you will reach you final ideal Biofilm thickness since there will be no competition for substrate, on the other hand if we talk nitrification you can not "overload" your Biofilm during start-up since you have both to assure that the Carbon load is low enough to assure Autotrophic growth, but you will also have to keep the Ammonia load so low that you will not get to high NO2-N levels, since this will kill the reactor.
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