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This study was designed to evaluate a treatment system for high strength wastewater (vinasse) from a sugarcane molasses-based bio-ethanol plant in Thailand. A laboratory-scale two-phase treatment system composed of a sulfate reducing (SR) tank and multi-staged up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (MS-UASB) reactor was used as the pre-treatment unit. Conventional UASB and down-flow hanging sponge (DHS) reactors were used as the post-treatment unit. The treatment system was operated for 300 days under ambient temperature conditions (24.6-29.6 °C). The hydraulic retention time (HRT) in each unit was kept at 25 h for the two-phase system and 23 h for the UASB&DHS. The influent concentration was allowed to reach up to 15,000 mg chemical oxygen demand (COD)/L. COD removal efficiency (based on influent COD) of the two-phase MS-UASB and the UASB&DHS was 54.9 and 18.7%, respectively. Due to the effective removal of sulfide in the SR tank, the MS-UASB achieved a high methane conversion ratio of up to 97%. In DHS, nitrification occurred at the outside portion of the sponge media while denitrification occurred at the inside. Consequently, 27% of the total nitrogen (TN) was removed. An amount of 32% of residual nitrogen (28 mgN/L) was in the form of nitrate, a better nitrogen state for fertilizer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A combination of an acidification reactor and an up-flow staged sludge bed (USSB) reactor was applied to treatment of molasses wastewater. The USSB, equipped with three gas solid separators, was selected because of superior organic removal by means of good retention of granular sludge. The combined system was continuously operated at mesophilic (35°C) conditions for 600 days. The USSB achieved a higa organic removal rate of 37 kgCOD/m³ day (organic loading rate of 43 kgCOD/m³ day with 86.2% COD -removal). The USSB retained high sludge concentration of approximately 58 gVSS/L based on the reactor volume. The retained granular sludge had good settle-ability with a sludge volume index (SVI) cf 4 to 20 ml/gSS. The retained sludge possessed a sufficient level of methanogenic activities for acetate (1.2 gCOD/gVSS day) and for hydrogen (1.7 gCOD/gVSS day). Analysis of microbial community revealed that genus Methanobacterium as hydrogen utilizing methanogen and order Methanosarcinales as acetate utilizing methanogen were detected in the retained sludge of the USSB reactor. The superior performance of the USSB was attributed to good retention of a large amount of granular sludge with high methanogenic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biodegradation characteristics of palm oil mill effluent (POME) and the related microbial community were studied in both actual sequential anaerobic ponds in Malaysia and enrichment cultures. The significant degradation of the POME was observed in the second pond, in which the temperature was 35-37 WC. In this pond, biodegradation of major long chain fatty acids (LCFA), such as palmitic acid (C16:0) and oleic acid (C18:1), was also confirmed. The enrichment culture experiment was conducted with different feeding substrates, i.e. POME, C16:0 and C18:1, at 35 WC. Good recovery of methane indicated biodegradation of feeds in the POME and C16:0 enrichments. The methane production rate of the C18:1 enrichment was slower than other substrates and inhibition of methanogenesis was frequently observed. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analyses indicated the existence of LCFA-degrading bacteria, such as the genus Syntrophus and Syntorophomonas, in all enrichment cultures operated at 35 WC. Anaerobic degradation of the POME under mesophilic conditions was stably processed as compared with thermophilic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, continuous operation of a pilot-scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor for sewage treatment was conducted for 630 days to investigate the physical and microbial characteristics of the retained sludge. The UASB reactor with a working volume of 20.2 m³ was operated at ambient temperature (16-29 °C) and seeded with digested sludge. After 180 days of operation, when the sewage temperature had dropped to 20 °C or lower, the removal efficiency of both total suspended solids (TSS) and total biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) deteriorated due to washout of retained sludge. At low temperature, the cellulose concentration of the UASB sludge increased owing to the rate limitation of the hydrolytic reaction of suspended solids in the sewage. However, after an improvement in sludge retention (settleability and concentration) in the UASB reactor, the process performance stabilized and gave sufficient results (68% of TSS removal, 75% of total BOD removal) at an hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 9.7 h. The methanogenic activity of the retained sludge significantly increased after day 246 due to the accumulation of Methanosaeta and Methanobacterium following the improvement in sludge retention in the UASB reactor. Acid-forming bacteria from phylum Bacteroidetes were detected at high frequency; thus, these bacteria may have an important role in suspended solids degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A lab-scale expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactor was operated at 20°C with low strength wastewater (0.6-0.8 g COD/L) for over 200 days. Reactor was inoculated with mesophilic granular sludge. The up-flow velocity was set to 5 m/h by effluent recirculation. The COD loading was increased up to 12 kg COD/m³/day until the day 76, resulting in hydraulic retention time of 1.5 hours. Physical properties (settleability and diameter) of retained sludge tended to deteriorate during the first 2-3 months, however sludge settleability kept sufficiently in the later part of experiment due to the reconstruction of granular sludge. The growth yield (Yg) of retained sludge (0.13 g VSS/g COD) was about two times higher than mesophilic and thermophilic granular sludge processes while the endogenous decay constant (Kd) is very low (0.0001/day) as compared with those processes. The sludge retention time of retained sludge reduced from 100 days to 40 days by the reduction of hydraulic retention time from 4 hours to 1.5 hours. Maintenance of 40 days of sludge retention time caused the stable retainment of biomass and the significant increase of methanogenic activity of the retained sludge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to establish the appropriate methane fermentation technology for low strength wastewater, a 2.0 L EGSB reactor was operated at 20°C with 0.3 - 0.4 g COD/L of sucrose-based synthetic wastewater for 500 days. At the start up period, the reactor was operated in EGSB mode with a 5 m/h up flow velocity by continuous effluent recirculation. However, the EGSB reactor exhibited insufficient COD removal (50-60%) at COD loading of 7.2 - 9.6 kg COD/m3day due to the low COD concentration in the sludge bed. Therefore, we proposed the new operation mode by switching to UASB mode (without recirculation, 0.7 m/h up flow velocity) for 30 minutes and EGSB mode for 10 minutes in 40 minutes cycle. Moreover we added sodium sulfide to make the low ORP condition. In this operation, COD removal increased dramatically, from 65% to 91%. Additionally, physical properties of the retained sludge were well maintained in this operation mode. Furthermore, the retained sludge possessed appropriate levels of methanogenic activity (0.2-0.4 g COD/g VSS/ day) at 20°C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 2.0 L volume of EGSB reactor was operated at 208C for more than 500 days with 0.3-0.4 g COD/L of sucrose base wastewater to investigate the influence of effluent-recirculation on the process performance. At the start up period, the reactor was operated in EGSB mode with 5 m/h upflow velocity by continuous effluent recirculation. The COD loading was set to 7.2-9.6 kg COD/m3 day with HRT of 1 hour. However, in this mode, EGSB reactor exhibited insufficient COD removal efficiency, i.e., 50-60%. Therefore, UASB mode (without recirculation, 0.7 m/h upflow velocity) was used for 30 minutes in every 40 minutes cycle to increase the COD concentration in the sludge bed. As a result, an excellent process performance was shown. The COD removal efficiency increased from 65% to 91% and the reactor could maintain a good physical property of retained sludge (sludge concentration: 33.4 g VSS/L and SVI: 25 mL/g VSS). Furthermore, retained sludge possessed sufficient level of methanogenic activity at 208C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a lab scale EGSB reactor was operated for 400 days to investigate the influence of temperature-decrease on the microbial characteristic of retained sludge. The EGSB reactor was started-up at 15°C seeding with 20°C-grown granular sludge. The influent COD of synthetic wastewater was set at 0.6-0.8 gCOD/L. The process-temperature was stepwise reduced from 15°C to 5°C during 400 days operation. Decrease of temperature of the reactor from 15°C to 10°C caused the decline of COD removal efficiency. However, continuous operation of the EGSB reactor led the efficient treatment of wastewater (70% of COD removal, 50% of methane recovery) at 10°C. We confirmed that the both acetate-fed and hydrogen-fed methanogenic activities of retained sludge clearly increased under 15 to 20°C. Changes of microbial profiles of methanogenic bacteria were analyzed by 16S rDNA-targeted DGGE analysis and cloning. It shows that genus Methanospirillum as hydrogen-utilizing methanogen proliferated due to low temperature operation of the reactor. On the other hand, genus Methanosaeta presented in abundance as acetoclastic-methanogen throughout the experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]