Biofilter Media Volume

Convert required active biofilter surface to accessible media and reactor volumes; distinct from TAN-to-area sizing and dependent on supplied accessibility and fill.

Description

Media volume follows from required active surface and an accessible fraction of the nominal specific area.

Media volume follows from required active surface and an accessible fraction of the nominal specific area. Reactor volume additionally depends on the fraction filled with media.^[1]

Convert required active biofilter surface to accessible media and reactor volumes; distinct from TAN-to-area sizing and dependent on supplied accessibility and fill.

When to use Biofilter Media Volume

Use this tool to convert required active biofilter surface to accessible media and reactor volumes; distinct from TAN-to-area sizing and dependent on supplied accessibility and fill.

Prepare the cohort, water, feed or equipment measurements for one consistent operating period. Confirm nitrogen reporting bases, dry/wet masses, flow units and supplied design assumptions.

How to use Biofilter Media Volume and understand its results

Prepare the cohort, water, feed or equipment measurements for one consistent operating period. Confirm nitrogen reporting bases, dry/wet masses, flow units and supplied design assumptions.
Enter requiredActiveAreaM2, nominalSpecificSurfaceM2PerM3, accessibleSurfaceFraction, mediaFillFraction using the field table and calculation rules, then run the tool.
Read requiredMediaVolumeM3, requiredReactorVolumeM3. The explanation below defines the units, signs, ordering and any flags or placeholder values.
If the tool reports an input issue, correct the values and run it again. Apply the stated assumptions when interpreting a successfully returned result.

Input field	Meaning	Value type; see rules below	Requirement
requiredActiveAreaM2	Required active area m2	number	Required
nominalSpecificSurfaceM2PerM3	Nominal specific surface m2 per m3	number	Required
accessibleSurfaceFraction	Accessible surface fraction	number	Required
mediaFillFraction	Media fill fraction	number	Required

Provide nonnegative required area, positive nominal m²/m³ and accessible/fill fractions greater than zero through one. Calculate media and reactor m³. Zero required area gives zero volumes.

mediaVolume=requiredArea/(nominalAreaPerVolume×accessibleFraction); reactorVolume=mediaVolume/fillFraction

Units, indexing, boundary conditions and exceptional cases are defined in the calculation rules above.

Output field	Meaning	Value type
requiredMediaVolumeM3	Required media volume m3	number
requiredReactorVolumeM3	Required reactor volume m3	number

json

{
  "input": {
    "requiredActiveAreaM2": 1000,
    "nominalSpecificSurfaceM2PerM3": 500,
    "accessibleSurfaceFraction": 0.5,
    "mediaFillFraction": 0.4
  },
  "output": {
    "requiredMediaVolumeM3": 4,
    "requiredReactorVolumeM3": 10
  }
}

Limitations and assumptions

The accessibility and fill factors must suit the chosen medium and reactor. This does not calculate loading capacity, fluidization, oxygen supply or manufacturer installation limits.

Numeric inputs must be finite. Follow the calculation-specific rules for overflow, underflow and exceptional cases. Missing required fields, extra fields, wrong value types and violations of the calculation rules are input errors.

Alternative or Complementary methods

Use Biofilter Sizing: Size active nitrifying surface against combined TAN loads with supplied peak/rate/derating assumptions; no media rating, startup guarantee or fish safety certification. For a complementary task, use Nitrification Rate: Measure net TAN disappearance and active-area-normalized rate across parallel streams; negative net removal is preserved and TAN disappearance alone does not prove nitrification.

References

Biofilter Media Volume — tool.io

Similar or alternative tools

Biofilter Sizing
Size active nitrifying surface against combined TAN loads with supplied peak/rate/derating assumptions; no media rating, startup guarantee or fish safety certification.
Nitrification Rate
Measure net TAN disappearance and active-area-normalized rate across parallel streams; negative net removal is preserved and TAN disappearance alone does not prove nitrification.