Mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion of biologically pretreated abattoir wastewaters in an upflow anaerobic filter

Abstract

The hydrolysis pretreatment of abattoir wastewaters (AW), rich in organic suspended solids (fats and protein) was studied in static and stirred batch reactors without aeration in the presence of natural microbial population acclimated in a storage tank of AW. Microbial analysis showed that the major populations which contribute to the pretreatment of AW belong to the genera Bacillus. Contrary to the static pretreatment, the stirred conditions favoured the hydrolysis and solubilization of 80% of suspended matter into soluble pollution. The pretreated AW, in continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) at a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 2 days, was fed to an upflow anaerobic filter (UAF) at an HRT of 2 days. The performance of anaerobic digestion of biologically pretreated AW was examined under mesophilic (37 °C) and thermophilic (55 °C) conditions. The shifting from a mesophilic to a thermophilic environment in the UAF was carried out with a short start-up of thermophilic condition. The UAF ran at organic loading rates (OLRs) ranging from 0.9 to 6 g COD/L d in mesophilic conditions and at OLRs from 0.9 to 9 g COD/L d in thermophilic conditions. COD removal efficiencies of 80–90% were achieved for OLRs up to 4.5 g COD/L d in mesophilic conditions, while the highest OLRs i.e. 9 g COD/L d led to efficiencies of 70–72% in thermophilic conditions. The biogas yield in thermophilic conditions was about 0.32–0.45 L biogas/g of COD removed for OLRs up to 4.5 g COD/L d. For similar OLR, the UAF in mesophilic conditions showed lower percentage of methanization. Mesophilic anaerobic digestion has been shown to destroy pathogens partially, whereas the thermophilic process was more efficient in the removal of indicator microorganisms and pathogenic bacteria at different organic loading rates.