Effect of polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel as a biocarrier on volatile fatty acids production of a two-stage thermophilic anaerobic membrane bioreactor

Supawat Chaikasem; Amila Abeynayaka; Chettiyappan Visvanathan

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2014.04.023

Effect of polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel as a biocarrier on volatile fatty acids production of a two-stage thermophilic anaerobic membrane bioreactor

Bioresour Technol. 2014 Sep:168:100-5. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2014.04.023. Epub 2014 Apr 18.

Authors

Supawat Chaikasem¹, Amila Abeynayaka², Chettiyappan Visvanathan³

Affiliations

¹ Environmental Engineering and Management Program, School of Environment Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand.
² Department of Urban Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan.
³ Environmental Engineering and Management Program, School of Environment Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand. Electronic address: visu@ait.asia.

PMID: 24803272
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2014.04.023

Abstract

This work studied the effect of polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel (PVA-gel) beads, as an effective biocarrier for volatile fatty acid (VFA) production in hydrolytic reactor of a two-stage thermophilic anaerobic membrane bioreactor (TAnMBR). The two-stage TAnMBR, treating synthetic high strength particulate wastewater with influent chemical oxygen demand (COD) [16.4±0.8 g/L], was operated at 55 °C. Under steady state conditions, the reactor was operated at an organic loading rate of 8.2±0.4 kg COD/m(3) d. Operational performance of the system was monitored by assessing VFA composition and quantity, methane production and COD removal efficiency. Increment of VFA production was observed with PVA-gel addition. Hydrolytic effluent contained large amount of acetic acid and n-butyric acid. However, increase in VFA production adversely affected the methanogenic reactor performance due to lack of methanogenic archaea.

Keywords: Membrane bioreactor; Methane production; PVA-gel; Thermophilic anaerobic; Volatile fatty acids.

MeSH terms

Acids / metabolism
Anaerobiosis
Bioreactors / microbiology*
Biotechnology / instrumentation*
Biotechnology / methods*
Fatty Acids, Volatile / biosynthesis*
Membranes, Artificial*
Methane / biosynthesis
Polyvinyl Alcohol / chemistry*
Temperature*

Substances

Acids
Fatty Acids, Volatile
Membranes, Artificial
polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel
Polyvinyl Alcohol
Methane