Abstract
A kinetic study of the anaerobic digestion of soft drink wastewater was undertaken, using bioreactors containing various suspended supports (bentonite, zeolite, sepiolite, saponite and polyurethane foam), on to which the microorganisms effecting the purification were immobilized. Assuming the overall anaerobic digestion process conforms to first-order kinetics, the specific rate constants, K0, derived from the reactors with saponite and sepiolite (magnesium silicates) were approximately twice those from bentonite and zeolite (aluminium silicates) and almost five times higher than in the control reactor (without support); the polyurethane support showed an intermediate behaviour. The methanogenic activity increased linearly with COD load, with saponite and sepiolite supports showing the highest values. The average yield coefficient of methane was 325 cm3 CH4 STP g-1 COD and the percentage elimination of COD was 77.8%; these values were not significantly altered by the type of support used.
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