Start-up and monitoring of the granulation process in a pilot anaerobic reactor using vinasse as a substrate

MACHADO, W.D.; MOLINA, C.F.; PAZ, D.; QUAIA, E.A.

Tucuman

Congreso; XXX ISSCT Congress; 2019

Sociedad Argentina de Técnicos de la Caña de Azúcar SATCA

Start-up and monitoring of the granulation process in a pilot anaerobic reactor using vinasse as a substrateCésar F Molina, Eugenio A Quaia, Walter D Machado and Dora PazAbstract. Anaerobic digestion is a recommended process to treat effluents with high organic loads. One of the most widespread technologies is that of the upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor. Under certain conditions, the anaerobic microflora of the sludge can merge together to create granular structures with a diameter of a few millimeters in which all microbial species necessary for the process of biodigestion can occur. There have been many studies about these granules using simple substrates such as glucose, nevertheless, there are few publications about granulation using complex substrates such as industrial effluents. This study evaluates the granulation process carried out in a 155 L UASB reactor using activated sludge as inoculum, and vinasse as the substrate. The reactor was running for 7 months. The operational parameters used were an organic loading rate of 1 g COD/L.d and an upflow velocity (Vup) of 1 m/h. In these conditions, the organic matter was reduced by 77.9% and the biomass presented an increase of volatile suspended solids around 45%. 30 days after the stability of the system was achieved, granules of 0.2 to 0.4 mm were observed and, towards the end of the test, granules with a diameter of 4 mm were detected.Key words UASB, anaerobic sludge, granulation, vinasse