scholarly journals Anaerobic treatment of high-sulfate wastes

1986 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 423-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan A. Oleszkiewicz ◽  
Barry L. Hilton

Six parallel upflow anaerobic sludge bed reactors were operated at chemical oxygen demand (COD) loads from 3 to 10 kg COD/(m3∙d). Four reactors (R1–R4) were fed sodium sulfate at loads of 1–3 kg S-SO4/(m3∙d). Reactors R1 and R2 were fed spent cheese whey with R1 being operated in an unstripped and R2 in a stripped mode. At COD loads below 5 kg/(m3∙d), the removal in R1 was 60–80% COD and generally trailed R2 by a margin of 0–15%. At higher COD loads and at higher SO4/COD ratios, the performance of R1 deteriorated significantly. A similar situation was found in the pair R3 (unstripped) and R4 (stripped), which was fed a mixture of spent whey and sulfite cooking liquor. Reactors R5 and R6 were subjected to the same feed as R3 and R4, but no sulfate was added. A comparison of R4 with R6 indicated slightly lower COD removal in R4 with similar amounts of volatile fatty acids accumulating in both reactors in cases of overloading. Key words: anaerobic treatment, sulfides, methanogenesis, inhibition, sludge bed reactor, dairy wastes, pulp and paper wastes, sulfate reduction.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (13) ◽  
pp. 5803
Author(s):  
Antonio Lara-Musule ◽  
Ervin Alvarez-Sanchez ◽  
Gloria Trejo-Aguilar ◽  
Laura Acosta-Dominguez ◽  
Hector Puebla ◽  
...  

Anaerobic treatment is a viable alternative for the treatment of agro-industrial waste. Anaerobic digestion reduces organic load and produces volatile fatty acids (VFA), which are precursors of value-added products such as methane-rich biogas, biohydrogen, and biopolymers. Nowadays, there are no low-cost diagnosis and monitoring systems that analyze the dynamic behavior of key variables in real time, representing a significant limitation for its practical implementation. In this work, the feasibility of using the multiscale analysis to diagnose and monitor the key variables in VFA production by anaerobic treatment of raw cheese whey is presented. First, experiments were carried out to evaluate the performance of the proposed methodology under different operating conditions. Then, experimental pH time series were analyzed using rescaled range (R/S) techniques. Time-series analysis shows that the anaerobic VFA production exhibits a multiscale behavior, identifying three characteristic regions (i.e., three values of Hurst exponent). In addition, the dynamic Hurst exponents show satisfactory correlations with the chemical oxygen demand (COD) consumption and VFA production. The multiscale analysis of pH time series is easy to implement and inexpensive. Hence, it could be used as a diagnosis and indirect monitoring system of key variables in the anaerobic treatment of raw cheese whey.


Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 1017
Author(s):  
Margarita Andreas Dareioti ◽  
Aikaterini Ioannis Vavouraki ◽  
Konstantina Tsigkou ◽  
Constantina Zafiri ◽  
Michael Kornaros

The aim of this study was to determine the optimal conditions for dark fermentation using agro-industrial liquid wastewaters mixed with sweet sorghum stalks (i.e., 55% sorghum, 40% cheese whey, and 5% liquid cow manure). Batch experiments were performed to investigate the effect of controlled pH (5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5) on the production of bio-hydrogen and volatile fatty acids. According to the obtained results, the maximum hydrogen yield of 0.52 mol H2/mol eq. glucose was measured at pH 5.5 accompanied by the highest volatile fatty acids production, whereas similar hydrogen productivity was also observed at pH 6.0 and 6.5. The use of heat-treated anaerobic sludge as inoculum had a positive impact on bio-hydrogen production, exhibiting an increased yield of 1.09 mol H2/mol eq. glucose. On the other hand, the pretreated (ensiled) sorghum, instead of a fresh one, led to a lower hydrogen production, while the organic load decrease did not affect the process performance. In all experiments, the main fermentation end-products were volatile fatty acids (i.e., acetic, propionic, butyric), ethanol and lactic acid.


1999 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 203-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salih Rebac ◽  
Jules B. van Lier ◽  
Piet Lens ◽  
Alfons J. M. Stams ◽  
Freddy Dekkers ◽  
...  

Psychrophilic (2 to 20°C) anaerobic treatment of low strength synthetic and malting wastewater was investigated using a single and two module expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactor system. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiencies found in the experiments exceeded 90 % in the single module reactor at an organic loading rate up to 12 g COD dm−3 day−1 and a HRT of 1.6 h at 10-12°C ambient temperature using influent concentrations ranging from 500 to 800 mg COD dm−3. When a two module EGSB system was used at the temperature range 10-15°C, soluble COD removal and volatile fatty acids removal of 67-78% and 90-96% were achieved, respectively, and an OLR between 2.8-12.3 kg COD m−3 day−1 and a HRT of 3.5 h. The second module serves mainly as a scavenger of non-degraded volatile fatty acids (VFA) from the first module. The optimal temperatures for substrate conversion of reactor sludge, after it has been exposed to long term psychrophilic conditions, were similar to those of the original mesophilic inoculum. The specific activities of the sludge in the reactor increased in time by a factor 3, indicating enrichment of methanogens and acetogens even at low temperatures. By adapting the process design to the expected prevailing conditions inside the reactor, the loading potentials and overall stability of the anaerobic high-rate process may be distinctly improved under psychrophilic conditions. The results obtained clearly reveal the big potentials of anaerobic wastewater treatment under low ambient (10-12°C) temperature conditions for low strength wastewaters, very likely including domestic sewage.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1850
Author(s):  
Claudio B-Arroyo ◽  
Antonio Lara-Musule ◽  
Ervin Alvarez-Sanchez ◽  
Gloria Trejo-Aguilar ◽  
Juan-Rodrigo Bastidas-Oyanedel ◽  
...  

The whey is a byproduct of the dairy industry that, if not treated properly, can cause serious environmental pollution problems. Anaerobic treatment is an alternative for its recovery, since, in addition to reducing the organic load. it allows the generation of value-added products such as volatile fatty acids (VFA) and biogas. However, the process is very complex and requires specific operating conditions that guarantee its stability and favor the production of value-added compounds. In this work, an unstructured mathematical model is proposed to evaluate the dynamic behavior of the stages of the anaerobic degradation process of the whey (i.e., hydrolysis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis and methanogenesis). The proposed model considers the dynamic variation in pH during the experiment. To validate the model, an experimental set was carried out at pH and temperature conditions that favor the production of VFAs. Experimental results show that the anaerobic treatment of the raw cheese whey favors pH = 5.5; for T = 40 °C, the maximum VFA production is obtained (30.71 gCOD L−1), and for T = 35 °C, a 45.81% COD degradation is reached. The proposed model considers the effect of pH and temperature and it is validated in the region where the experimental tests were carried out. The model parameters were estimated using the Levenberg–Marquardt method, obtaining coefficients of determination R2 > 0.94. The proposed model can describe the dynamic behavior of the key variables in the anaerobic treatment of raw cheese whey at different pH and temperature conditions, finding that VFA production is favored at pH ≥ 7, while the highest COD removal results in acidic conditions


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 510
Author(s):  
Elza R. Mikheeva ◽  
Inna V. Katraeva ◽  
Andrey A. Kovalev ◽  
Dmitriy A. Kovalev ◽  
Alla N. Nozhevnikova ◽  
...  

This article presents the results of the start-up of continuous production of biohydrogen from cheese whey (CW) in an anaerobic filter (AF) and anaerobic fluidized bed (AFB) with a polyurethane carrier. Heat and acid pretreatments were used for the inactivation of hydrogen-scavengers in the inoculum (mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic sludge). Acid pretreatment was effective for thermophilic anaerobic sludge to suppress methanogenic activity, and heat treatment was effective for mesophilic anaerobic sludge. Maximum specific yields of hydrogen, namely 178 mL/g chemical oxygen demand (COD) and 149 mL/g COD for AFB and AF, respectively, were obtained at the hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 4.5 days and organic load rate (OLR) of 6.61 kg COD/(m3 day). At the same time, the maximum hydrogen production rates of 1.28 and 1.9 NL/(L day) for AF and AFB, respectively, were obtained at the HRT of 2.02 days and OLR of 14.88 kg COD/(m3 day). At the phylum level, the dominant taxa were Firmicutes (65% in AF and 60% in AFB), and at the genus level, Lactobacillus (40% in AF and 43% in AFB) and Bifidobacterium (24% in AF and 30% in AFB).


2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (20) ◽  
pp. 2637-2646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salah Din Mahmud Hasan ◽  
Citieli Giongo ◽  
Mônica Lady Fiorese ◽  
Simone Damasceno Gomes ◽  
Tatiane Caroline Ferrari ◽  
...  

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 57-62
Author(s):  
Fiza Sarwar ◽  
Wajeeha Malik ◽  
Muhammad Salman Ahmed ◽  
Harja Shahid

Abstract: This study was designed using actual effluent from the sugary mills in an Up-flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) Reactor to evaluate treatability performance. The reactor was started-up in step-wise loading rates beginning from 0.05kg carbon oxygen demand (COD)/m3-day to 3.50kg-COD/m3-day. The hydraulic retention time (HRT) was slowly decreased from 96 hrs to eight hrs. It was observed that the removal efficiency of COD of more than 73% can be easily achieved at an HRT of more than 16 hours corresponding to an average organic loading rate (OLR) of 3.0kg-COD/m3-day, at neutral pH and constant temperature of 29°C. The average VFAs (volatile fatty acids) and biogas production was observed as 560mg/L and 1.6L/g-CODrem-d, respectively. The average methane composition was estimated as 62%. The results of this study suggest that the treatment of sugar mills effluent with the anaerobic technology seems to be more reliable, effective and economical.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/hn.v9i0.7075 Hydro Nepal Vol.9 July 2011 57-62


1999 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. H. P. Fang ◽  
D. Wai-Chung Chung

Experiments were conducted in two 2.8 liter UASB (upflow anaerobic sludge blanket) reactors treating proteinaceous wastewaters at 37° and 55°C with 9 hours of hydraulic retention. Results showed that the mesophilic reactor consistently removed 83.5-85.1% of COD (chemical oxygen demand) at loading rates ranging 8-22 g COD l−1 d−1 (corresponding to 3000-8250 mg l−1 of proteinaceous COD in wastewater), whereas the thermophilic reactor removed only 68.5-82.7%. At 32 g COD l−1 d−1 (i.e. 12000 mg COD l−1), the removal efficiencies were lowered to 75.7% in the mesophilic reactor and 65.1% in the thermophilic reactor. At 42 g COD l−1 d−1, severe sludge washout occurred in the mesophilic reactor; at the same loading rate, the thermophilic reactor removed only 53.8% of COD even though sludge washout was under control. The degradation rate in the both reactors was limited by the initial hydrolysis of proteins. However, batch tests showed that thermophilic sludge had slightly higher methanogenic activities than mesophilic sludge in treating proteins and intermediate acids, except propionate. The sludge yields in mesophilic and thermophilic reactors were 0.066 and 0.099 g VSS g COD−1, respectively. Observations by scanning electron microscopy indicated that both types of sludge granules were of irregular shape. There was little noticeable difference between the two granules; both had neither a layered microstructure nor a predominant bacterial species.


Processes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 1580
Author(s):  
Farokh laqa Kakar ◽  
Ahmed El Sayed ◽  
Neha Purohit ◽  
Elsayed Elbeshbishy

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the hydrothermal pretreatment’s retention time influence on the volatile fatty acids and biomethane production from thickened waste activated sludge under mesophilic conditions. Six different retention times of 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 min were investigated while the hydrothermal pretreatment temperature was kept at 170 °C. The results showed that the chemical oxygen demand (COD) solubilization increased by increasing the hydrothermal pretreatment retention time up to 30 min and stabilized afterwards. The highest COD solubilization of 48% was observed for the sample pretreated at 170 °C for 30 min. Similarly, the sample pretreated at 170 °C for 30 min demonstrated the highest volatile fatty acids yield of 14.5 g COD/Lsubstrate added and a methane yield of 225 mL CH4/g TCODadded compared to 4.3 g COD/Lsubstrate added and 163 mL CH4/g TCODadded for the raw sample, respectively. The outcome of this study revealed that the optimum conditions for solubilization are not necessarily associated with the best fermentation and/or digestion performance.


Processes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. 576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farokh laqa Kakar ◽  
Ehssan Hosseini Koupaie ◽  
Hisham Hafez ◽  
Elsayed Elbeshbishy

The current study investigates the effect of hydrothermal pretreatment (HTP) on acidification of source-separated organics (SSO) in terms of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) production and solubilization. Temperature and retention time for HTP of SSO ranged from 150 to 240 °C and 5 to 30 min, respectively. The soluble substance after hydrothermal pretreatment initially increased, reaching its peak at 210 °C and then declined gradually. The highest overall chemical oxygen demand (COD) solubilization of 63% was observed at “210 °C-20 min” compared to 17% for raw SSO. The highest VFAs yield of 1536 mg VFAs/g VSS added was observed at “210 °C-20 min” compared to 768 mg VFAs/g VSS for raw SSO. Intensification of hydrothermal pretreatment temperature beyond 210 °C resulted in the mineralization of the organics and adversely affected the process.


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