Fly ash as stimulant for anaerobic digestion: effect over hydrolytic stage and methane generation rate.

Thermoelectric fly ash was used as a micronutrient source for microorganisms in the anaerobic digestion process of thermally pretreated (1 hour, 120 °C) secondary sludge. The obtained results not only suggest that fly ash improves methane generation in the conversion of volatile fatty acids into methane, but also show a new observation, that the fly ash contributes in the particulate organic solubilization. The maximum methane production rate increased from 6.52 mL/L/d to 22.59 mL/L/d when fly ash was added at a dosage of 150 mg/L in biochemical methane potential tests compared with tests with no added ash. Additionally, the kinetic constants of the hydrolysis of particulate organic matter were obtained in both cases (with and without added ash) in batch reactors using a first-order kinetic model; in the case of no addition, the first-order kinetic parameter was 0.019 ± 0.002 d-1, while with ashes this value increased to 0.045 ± 0.000 d-1. Therefore, the addition of fly ash improves methane generation and hydrolytic kinetics in different orders of magnitude.

Autotrophic and heterotrophic denitrification for simultaneous removal of nitrogen, sulfur and organic matter.

The aim of this investigation was to assess the startup and operation of a laboratory-scale hybrid UASB-Anaerobic Filter Reactor (UASFB) of 1 L volume, kept at 30°C, in order to carry out a simultaneous autotrophic and heterotrophic denitrification process. First, the heterotrophic and autotrophic populations were separately enriched, with specific cultures and subsequently the UASFB was inoculated with 2 g L(-1) of volatile suspended solids (VSS), with a ratio of 1.5:1 (autotrophs: heterotrophs). The influent or synthetic wastewater used was composed of: Na2S2O3·5H2O, CH3COOK, NaNO3, NaHCO3, K2HPO4, NH4Cl and saline solution. The concentrations varied depending on the organic loading rate (OLR), nitrogen loading rate (NLR) and sulfur loading rate (SLR) applied. In the UASFB reactor, two experimental conditions were tested and assessed: (i) COD/N ratio of 3.6 and SLR of 0.75 kg S m(-3) d(-1); and (ii) COD/N ratio of 5.8 and SLR of 0.25 kg S m(-3) d(-1). The results obtained demonstrated that an inoculum coming from an anaerobic reactor was able to carry out the process, obtaining a maximum nitrate removal of 85.3% in the first stage of operation and 99.5% in the second stage. The recovery of sulfur in form of sulfate in the effluent did not present a tendency to stabilize during the measured time, with a maximum thiosulfate removal of 32.5%, when the SLR was lowered to 0.25 kg S m(-3) d(-1). The maximum organic matter elimination, measured as COD, was 75.8%, which indicates the relatively good performance and behavior of the heterotrophic microorganisms.

Influence of the type and source of inoculum on the start-up of anammox sequencing batch reactors (SBRs).

Anammox (anaerobic ammonium oxidation) is an attractive option for the treatment of wastewaters with a low carbon/nitrogen ratio. This is due to its low operating costs when compared to the classical nitrification-denitrification processes. However, one of the main disadvantages of the Anammox process is slow biomass growth, meaning a relatively slow reactor start-up. This becomes even more complicated when Anammox microorganisms are not present in the inoculum. Four inocula were studied for the start-up of Anammox sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) 2 L in volume agitated at 100 rpm, one of them using zeolite as a microbial support. Two inocula were taken from UASB reactors and two from aerobic reactors (activated sludge and SBR). The Anammox SBRs studied were operated at 36 ± 0.5°C. The results showed that the only inoculum that enabled the enrichment of the Anammox biomass came from an activated sludge plant treating wastewaters from a poultry slaughterhouse. This plant was designed for organic matter degradation and nitrogen removal (nitrification). This could explain the presence of Anammox microorganisms. This SBR operated without zeolite and achieved nitrite and ammonium removals of 96.3% and 68.4% respectively, at a nitrogen loading rate (NLR) of 0.1 kg N/m(3)/d in both cases. The lower ammonium removal was due to the fact that a sub-stoichiometric amount of nitrite (1 molar ratio) was fed. The specific Anammox activity (SAA) achieved was 0.18 g N/g VSS/d.