COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE OF HIGH-RATE ANAEROBIC THERMOPHILIC TECHNOLOGIES TREATING INDUSTRIAL WASTE-WATER

The performance of two high rate technologies, anaerobic filter and fl uidized bed at laboratory-scale, for treating distillery wastewater (w ine vinasses) at anaerobic thermophilic conditions, have been compared in this study. Two kinds of media, corrugated plastic tubes and open- pore sintered glass pearls (SIRAN) were used as support on reactors. E xperimentally, it was confirmed that the maximum organic load rate Fee d was 32 kg COD m(-3) d(-1) for the fluidized bed reactor with the por ous packing (SIRAN), 23 kg COD m(-3) d(-1) for the stationary packed b ed on SIRAN and 20 kg COD m(-3) d(-1) for the anaerobic filter on corr ugated plastic tubes. Under these conditions, the organic removal effi ciency was 81.5, 75 and 50% respectively and the maximum organic remov al efficiency was 97, 84 and 75%, respectively. The anaerobic fluidize d bed technology is more effective than the anaerobic filter technolog y due, fundamentally, to this technology favouring the transport of mi crobial cells from the bulk to the surface and enhancing the contact b etween the microorganism and substrate phases. In this sense, the stat ionary packed bed technology is adequate for the treatment of easily b iodegradable wastewater or for cases where elevated percentages of COD removal are not required, while the fluidized bed technology is espec ially suitable for treatment of hazardous wastes with recalcitrant com positions. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.