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A model has been developed and experimentally checked for the physical behavior of sludge in the blanket in upflow reactors. The model is based on the mass balance for the sludge in the blanket, and can be used to predict the distribution of sludge in an upflow reactor in relation with the gas production, sludge settling characteristics, and the linear fluid velocity in the reactor. The quantitative values of the transport factors that are a measure of the efficiency of the transport of sludge by the fluid streams occurring in the reactor were determined experimentally in reactors of 30- and 200-m(3) volumes. As this was done for wastewater containing lower fatty acids as the main organic pollutants and for sludge with good settling characteristics, the predictive value of the model is limited. It may be used for the second (methane forming) step of anaerobic treatment of wastewater.

Irradiation of dl-mandelic, phenylacetic, formic, malonic or dl-tartaric acid in aqueous or ethanolic solutions with U. V. light results in the photodecomposition of these acids into ·COOH and the respective residual radicals. The ·COOH radical has strong reducing properties and can reduce azo dyes, if they are added to the solution prior to irradiation, to amines. The residual radicals formed together with ·COOH upon photodecomposition of the carboxylic acids, can cause fading of the dyes either by reduction or by addition to the chromophoric system.