An evaluation of single‐ and separated‐phase anaerobic industrial wastewater treatment in fluidized bed reactors

Abstract

Four fluidized bed reactors were used to evaluate single‐and separated‐phase anaerobic treatments of a high strength wastewater. Two reactors were fed with a synthetic wastewater, containing glucose as the primary carbon source, with a COD of 1.2 × 104 mg/L while the remaining pair were fed with a wastewater with a COD of 6000 mg/L. AT each influent strength, one fluidized bed reactor was operated as a single‐phase system while the other was operated as a methanogenic reactor which was preceded by an acidification reactor in a separatedphase system. The reactors were operated under steady‐state and variable process conditions. The separated‐phase system consistently gave a better quality effluent with lower effluent suspended solids and total COD, and the methane yield was also improved. Under variable process conditions, the separated‐phase system was inherently more stable and recovered more rapidly following a shock loading. Propionate and acetate degradation studies indicated that the biomass in the methanogenic fluidized beds of the two‐phase systems was more adapted to volatile acid degradation than the biomass in the single‐phase fluidized beds. Copyright © 1984 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.