Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the application of the anaerobic bioreactor with fixed-structured bed (ABFSB) for brewery wastewater treatment with high volumetric organic loading rate (VOLR) and its comparison with a traditional packed-fixed bed bioreactor. Two different biomass support materials were tested, including polyurethane (PU) and polypropylene (PP) for both configurations. The best global efficiency was reached by the structured-fixed bed reactor with polyurethane as biomass support (SB PU). For a VOLR of 14.0 kg CODt m-3 d-1 (HRT of 8 h) and 20.3 kg CODt m-3 d-1(HRT of 12 h), the SB PU reached the average CODt removal efficiencies (ECOD) of 81% and 71%, respectively. The results show that ABFSB is a promising technology for high organic matter and solids concentration wastewater treatment, but the type of the biomass support had a big impact on the reactors performance.
Highlights
Due to its high popularity, beer has an important place in the worldwide economy, being the fifth drink most consumed in the world after tea, soft drinks, milk and coffee (Fillaudeau et al, 2006)
PB PU: fixed-packed bed reactor with Biobob®; PB PP: fixed-packed bed reactor with polypropylene rings; SB PU: fixed-structured bed reactor with longitudinal polyurethane foam strips; SB PP: fixed-structured bed reactor with longitudinal bar constructed of polypropylene rings
The SB PU had the best global efficiency compared with all tested reactors, but the SB PP was similar to the packed-fixed bed reactors
Summary
Due to its high popularity, beer has an important place in the worldwide economy, being the fifth drink most consumed in the world after tea, soft drinks, milk and coffee (Fillaudeau et al, 2006). As a result of the large production, the brewery industry demands high volumes of water and generates large amounts of wastewater. According to Santos (2015), from 4 to 10 L of water are consumed and from 3 to 6 L of wastewater are generated to produce 1 L of beer. The brewery wastewater has high concentrations of organic matter and suspended solids; it has a high potential for environmental pollution (Simate et al, 2011). Much research was carried out to evaluate anaerobic reactor performance for brewery wastewater treatment (Alvarado-Lassman et al, 2008; Öktem & Tüfekçi, 2006; Parawira et al, 2005; Xiangwen et al, 2008). The results showed that brewery wastewater can be treated efficiently by anaerobic processes and has a high potential for biogas production
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