• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.267-275
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• 2000

To evaluate the characteristics and efficiency of oxygen transfer rate of a polystyrene foam bead as media in a packed column aerator was tested. This media has more surface area and cheaper than other ordinary plastic media. The polystyrene foam media was a sphere-shaped bead with 2.5 mm in diameter and specific surface area was 1,350 $m^2$/$m^3$. Oxygen transfer rate and standard aeration efficiency were tested under different hydraulic loading rates, depths of the media and temperatures. Experiment 1 was performed using a small packed column aerator with 10 cm in diameter and 1 m in length. The aerator filled with 0, 4.5, 9.0 and 18.0 cm of the media was tested under hydraulic loading rates of 2.0, 4.0 and 5.6 $m^3$/$m^2$/min at temperatures of 20, 25 and 3$0^{\circ}C$, respectively. In this experiment, standard oxygen transfer rate (SOTR) increased with the hydraulic loading rate and depth of the media increased. The maximum SOTR was reached at 5.6 $m^3$/$m^2$/min of hydraulic loading rate with 9 cm in depth of the media. However, standard aeration efficiency (SAE) decreased with the hydraulic loading rate increased because electricity consumed by pump increased as hydraulic loading rate increased. The highest SAE was reached at hydraulic loading rate of 2.0 $m^3$/$m^2$/min with 9.0 cm in depth of the media. Therefore, the highest SOTR and SAE were achieved at 9.0 cm in depth of the media regardless of the hydraulic loading rate. The maximum SAE was about 1.8 kg $O_2$/kW-hr with the hydraulic loading .ate of $m^3$/$m^2$/min at temperature of 20 $^{\circ}C$.Experiment 2 was performed using a larger aerator, 20 cm in diameter with 2 m in height. The aerator filled with 0, 9, 18, 27 and 36 cm of the media was operated under hydraulic loading rate of 2.0, 4.0 and 5.6 $m^3$/$m^2$/min at temperature of 27 $^{\circ}C$. The SAE reached to the highest efficiency (1.9 kg $O_2$/kW-hr) at 2.0 $m^3$/$m^2$/min of hydraulic loading rate and 36 cm in depth of the media. According to the above results, the polystyrene foam bead as a media in a packed column aerator was effective to increase oxygen transfer rate.