Behaviour of anaerobic baffled reactor treating partly acidified or easy acidifying wastewater

Partly acidified wastewater has been treated in an anaerobic baffled reacto r (ABR) that belongs to high-rate anaerobic reactors. The running processes as well as the granular biomass cultivation were observed in the present w ork. The wastewater contained sodium acetate, D-glucose, macro- and micronu trients. Sodium bicarbonate was used for adjusting the pH in the reactor. T he response to step increasing of the organic loading rate was observed by measuring the filtered as well as unfiltered COD in the reactor effluent, t he concentrations of volatile fatty acids, and the pH in each ABR, compartm ent. An anaerobic granular biomass was cultivated in the reactor and organi c loading rate of 15 kg m(-3) d(-1) was reached. It can be inferred from th e results of this work that for acidified wastewater the granulation proces s in ABR is more sensitive than in other types of high-rate anaerobic react ors, for example, in UASB reactor or in a hybrid reactor.