Startup of anaerobic fluidized bed reactors with acetic acid as the substrate

Abstract

The startup of anaerobic fluidized bed reactors, which use Manville R-633 beads as the growth support media, acetate enriched bacterial culture as the inoculum, and acetic acid as the sole substrate, is studied. Tow startup strategies are evaluated: one based on maximum and stable substrate utilization and another based on maximum substrate loading controlled by reactor pH. The startup process is characterized using a number of operational parameters.The reactors again excellent total organic carbon (TOC) removal (i.e., > 97% at a feed concentration of 5000 mg TOC/L) and stable methane production (i.e., 0.90 L CH(4)/g TOC, where TOC(r) is TOC removed) at a early stage of the startup process, regardless of the strategies applied. The loading can be increased rapidly without the danger of being overloaded. Significant losses of growth support media and biomass caused by gas effervescence at higher loadings limits the maximum loading that can be safely applied during startup process.A high reactor immobilized biomass inventory is achievable using the porous growth support media (e.g., Manville 633 beads). A rapid increase in loading creates a substrate rich environment that yields more viable reactor biomass. Both substrate utilization rate (batch and continuous) and immobilized biomass inventory stabilize concomitantly at the late stage of the startup process, indicating the attainment of steady-state conditions in reactors. Therefore, they are better parameters that TOC removal and methane production for characterizing the entire startup process of aerobic fluidized bed reactor.The strategy based on maximum substrate loading controlled by reactor pH significantly shortens the startup time. In this case, the reactor attains steady-state conditions approximately 140 days after startup. On the other hand, a startup time of 200 days is required when the strategy based maximum substrate utilization is adopted.