Anaerobic digestion of ice-cream wastewater: A comparison of single and two-phase reactor systems

Abstract

The anaerobic digestion of ice-cream wastewater, a complex substrate which includes milk proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids, has received little attention. Work using an aerobic contact system showed that at a 7.5-d hydraulic retention time (HRT), with an organic loading rate of 1.7 g COD/Ld and influent TSS (total suspended solids) of 5870 mg/L, the effluent COD was 628 mg/L, BOD was 91 mg/L and TSS was 674. Anaerobic filters have also been used at organic loadings of 6 kg COD/m{sup 3}d applied at a HRT of 0.42 day, with COD removals of 80%. Goodwing showed that this waste was capable of being treated by the UASB process with granulation commencing after 60-70 days, and gas production ranging between 0.73 and 0.93 L CH{sub 4}/g COD removed with loading rates between 0.7 and 3.0 g TOC/Ld. Two-phase anaerobic digestion is an innovative fermentation mode that has recently received increased attention. The kinetically dissimilar fermentation phases, hydrolysis-acidification and acetogenesis-methanation are operated in two separate reactors; the first of which is maintained at a very short HRT. The effluent from the first, acid-forming, phase is used as the substrate for the methane-phase reactor which has a longer HRT or cell immobilization. The aimmore » of this work was to compare the methane production capability and performance of a single-phase upflow fixed bed reactor with a two-phase digestion system. The two-phase digestion system consists of a completely mixed reactor for the acidogenic reaction and an upflow fixed bed reactor for the methanogenic reaction. Because of the high lipid content and COD of ice cream wastewater off site disposal has proved to be both expensive and poses problems to the receiving effluent treatment plant. For this reason the potential for a rapid anaerobic stabilization of the waste, with energy recovery in the form of methane gas, has been investigated in an attempt to minimize plant size and maximize gas production. 9 refs., 2 tabs.« less