Hydraulic retention time impact of treated recirculated leachate on the hydrolytic kinetic rate of coffee pulp in an acidogenic reactor.

This study attempted to investigate the impact of HRT of treated leachate recirculation on hydrolysis solubilization rate of coffee pulp in an acidogenic reactor. Coffee pulp presents more than 70% of organic matter and around of 30% of lignin and cellulose. Five lab scale reactors of 20 litres were used. Each reactor was fed with 5 kg of fresh coffee pulp and anaerobic sludge was used as inoculate. HRT of 0.5, 1, 3 and 10 days were applied. Each experiment shows that Total, Soluble and VFA COD appear rapidly in the removed leachate. HRT have a great impact on hydrolytic rate with an optimal value of 32,000 mg x L(-1) x d(-1).Low HRT increases hydrolysis rate and in consequence reduces duration of the hydrolytic phase. Also composition and concentration of VFA are influenced by HRT. Low ones favour acetic acid production and high ones permit the production of butyric. Low HRT generates leachate more easily fermentable. Efficiency of solubilization and acidification are independent of the HRT and present average values of 78% and 65% respectively. By batch feeding solid and continuous recirculation of treated leachate, HRT and SRT could be dissociated, where solid had a very high retention without problems of load, mixing and inhibition, and liquid could be recirculated with a very high rate. Under these low HRT condition, the first reactor of a two stage anaerobic system could reduces the hydrolysis duration of organic solid waste like coffee pulp and generate an optimal leachate for the methanization process.

Brewery wastewater treatment using anaerobic inverse fluidized bed reactors.

Two anaerobic inverse fluidized bed reactors were utilized to evaluate organic matter removal from brewery wastewater, applying different OLR and testing two support materials. Hydrodynamic tests varying liquid flow and solid concentration were developed on the supports in order to establish operational conditions. A batch colonization stage was applied using 25% active volume of extendosphere and triturated polyethylene as support materials. The reactors were subsequently operated continuously with stepwise increments in organic loading rate until limiting conditions was reached. For the supports studied, IFBR technology was suitable for organic matter removal present in brewery wastewater with COD removal efficiencies greater than 90%. The reactor with triturated polyethylene support showed an excellent COD removal with OLR values up to 10 g COD/Ld, whereas the reactor with extendosphere support had an excellent hydrodynamic and biologic behavior working with OLR values up to 70 g COD/Ld.

Simultaneous removal of carbon and nitrogen in an anaerobic inverse fluidized bed reactor.

The evaluation of simultaneous removal of carbon and nitrogen in an anaerobic inverse fluidized bed reactor is described. Continuous and batch experiments were used, with synthetic wastewater and glucose as the carbon source with two different nitrate concentrations of 100 and 250 mg N-NO3/L. The evolution of substrates and the concentrations of intermediary products in the gas phase were followed. Results indicate that the use of the biofilm in the inverse fluidized bed reactor allows the expression of denitrification and methanization activities simultaneously without physical or time separation. The removal of nitrogen with both the feeding of 100 and 250 mgN-NO3/L was higher than 90%, while the removal of carbon was 65% on average for the feeding with 100 mgN-NO3/L and 70% on average for the feeding with 250 mg N-NO3/L. This carbon degradation is equivalent to that obtained during the operation of the reactor in the period previous to the nitrate feeding. It was found that by using high values of the COD/N ratio, the dissimilative reduction of nitrates is favoured. Denitrification and anaerobic digestion occurs simultaneously under low values of COD/N.

Liquefaction and methanization of solid and liquid coffee wastes by two phase anaerobic digestion process.

This study attempted to investigate the feasibility of volatile fatty acid (VFA) production from coffee pulp hydrolyse, and further to determine the potential of methanization of both the pre-acidified effluent and the coffee wastewater. The experiments were carried out in 2 completely mixed reactors, each one with a working volume of 4 litres. Coffee pulp was used as substrate in the acidogenic reactor and different mixtures of pulper and wash-water and pre-acidified effluent in the methanogenic one. The acidogenic and methanogenic reactors were operated at an organic loading rate of 5 COD g x l(-1) x d(-1) and 0.5 COD g x l(-1) x d(-1). The total, soluble and VFA's effluent COD concentrations of the acidogenic reactor present average values of 57.75, 17.00 and 13.92 g x l(-1) respectively. Under these experimental conditions, 23% (COD based) of coffee pulp was hydrolysed with a rate of 1.32 gCOD x l(-1) x d(-1) and the soluble fraction was transformed to VFA's with an acidification efficiency of 82%. Total VFA's concentration reached a value of 13.9 gCOD x l(-1), and acetate, propionate, butyrate and valerate represented 52%, 28%, 9% and 11% respectively of the liquid phase COD. In the methanogenic reactor, COD removal and methanization of fresh coffee wastewater, pre-acidified effluent and both combined occur with an efficiency of 85% to 95% respectively, with a characteristic biogas composition of 80% CH4 and 20% CO2. These results show that a humid coffee "Beneficio" processing daily 23 tons of cherry coffee (fresh fruit), equipped with a two stage anaerobic digestion process could generate at least 1,886 CH4 m3 x d(-1). This represents an increase in methane production by a factor 3 to 5 compared to a "Beneficio" using anaerobic digestion only for the treatment of its wastewater.

Combined phosphate and nitrogen removal in a sequencing batch reactor using the aerobic denitrifier, Microvirgula aerodenitrificans.

A phosphate removal sludge was bioaugmented with the aerobic denitrifier, Microvirgula aerodenitrificans in order to reduce the nitrate produced during the aerobic nitrifying-phosphate uptake phase. Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) was used to follow the fate of the added strain. In order to maintain the pure strain in the complex ecosystem, diverse physiological and kinetic based strategies of bioaugmentation were tested under the sequencing batch reactor (SBR) type culture. The nature of the M. aerodenitrificans inoculum (adapted to nitrate-aerobic conditions or to anoxic one) had no influence on the SBR performances and did not enhance aerobic denitrifying performances. The optimum quantity of the added strain (10% of the total biomass) seemed to have much more positive influence on the long term maintenance of the pure strain than on the SBR performances. A small but daily supply of M. aerodenitrificans gave exactly the same result than a massive and 1-day supply, i.e. no enhancement of performances and no amelioration of the length of maintenance. A continuous supply of carbon during the first hour of the aerobic phase combined to a 10% supply of M. aerodenitrificans gave the best compromise in terms of phosphate removal, nitrification and aerobic denitrification performances. It was accompanied too by a decreased number of the ammonia and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria and a modification of the nitrite-oxidizing floc structure. FISH on M. aerodenitrificans revealed that (i) before bioaugmentation, the strain was already present in the phosphate removal sludge and (ii) the added bacteria almost disappeared from the reactor after 16 HRT. In a last experiment, M. aerodenitrificans embedded in alginate beads allowed enhancement of both aerobic denitrifying performances and length of strain maintenance.

Phosphate Release and Uptake by Pure Cultures of Acinetobacter sp.: Effect of the Volatile Fatty Acids Concentration

Phosphorus release and uptake by pure cultures of Acinetobacter strains were investigated under anaerobic and aerobic conditions respectively. Tests were performed to study the relationship between phosphorus release-storage reaction and behavior of extracellular organic substrates: acetic, propionic, and butyric acids have been used at four concentrations (50, 100, 500, and 1000 mg · L-1) in the anaerobic step of biological phosphorus removal. The results obtained depend on the strain and the volatile fatty acid (VFA) used. Phosphorus released under anaerobic condition was not always related to the amount of VFA or phosphorus consumed. Phosphorus uptake (P-uptake) in the aerobic step was found to be independent of phosphorus release rates. The best phosphorus uptake rates were obtained by Acinetobacter lwoffi ATCC21130 and Acinetobacter calcoaceticus Genoespecie SUCT-5 with butyric acid as carbon source.