The feasibility of predicting the stripping of organics in a biological system using UNIFAC

A simple empirical model based on Henry's law has been developed by Blackburn to predict stripping rate coefficients in biological systems. This research tests the usefulness of this empirical model for accurately predicting the stripping rate coefficients of volatile organics in waste water treatment plants and to serve as an analytic tool in laboratory biodegradation kinetic studies. The stripping rate coefficients of naphthalene from aqueous solutions were predicted by the model and determined experimentally. The empirical model accurately predicted the experimental stripping rate coefficients in water systems. The Henry's law constant for naphthalene was calculated with UNIFAC (Universal Quasichemical Functional Group Activity Coefficients).