Hydrogen as a quick indicator of organic shock loading in UASB

This study investigates the influence of organic shock loading on H-2 produ ction in an upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactor. An esterification w astewater produced from a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) manufacturing pl ant was applied; the major organic pollutants are ethylene glycol and aceta ldehyde. Experiments of two influent modes were performed here: a continuou s-flow mode with a step input of shock loading and a batch mode with a puls e input of shock loading. Results of the continuous-now experiments indicat e that biogas production parameters such as H-2 concentration and biogas pr oduction rate are more sensitive than water quality parameters such as pH, ORP, COD and TOC. In particular, H-2 increasing by 140% within I hour, is a very important index upon the organic shock loading. It changes from 120 p pm to over 600 ppm as the organic loading rate increases from 4.4 to 13.2 k gCOD/m(3) day through 4 hours of shock loading. Experiments of the batch sh ock loading with different pulse dosages of ethylene glycol, acetaldehyde a nd the raw wastewater were also investigated. The amount of H-2 production increased in proportion to an increase of organic load. Furthermore, the se quence of H-2 production among the three types of shock loading is acetalde hyde> ethylene glycol> raw wastewater. To sum up, Hp shows a faster respons e rate than the other parameters. Therefore, H-2, can be adopted as an impo rtant parameter for organic shock loading in UASB.