Effect of vitamin B12 pulse addition on the performance of cobalt deprived anaerobic granular sludge bioreactors

Abstract

The effect of a pulse addition of vitamin B(12) as cobalt source to restore the performance of cobalt depleted methanol-fed bioreactors was investigated. One upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactor was supplied with a pulse of vitamin B(12), and its operation was compared to that of another cobalt depleted UASB reactor to which a pulse of CoCl(2) was given. The addition of cobalt in the form of CoCl(2) supplies enough cobalt to restore methanogenesis and maintain full methanol degradation coupled to methane production during more than 35 days after the CoCl(2) pulse. Similar to CoCl(2), pulse addition of vitamin B(12) supplies enough cobalt to maintain full methanol degradation during more than 35 days after the pulse. However, the specific methanogenic activities (SMAs) of the sludge in the vitamin B(12) supplied reactor were around 3 times higher than the SMA of the sludge from the CoCl(2) supplied reactor at the same sampling times. An appropriate dosing strategy (repeated pulse dosing) combined with the choice of vitamin B(12) as the cobalt species is suggested as a promising dosing strategy for methanol-fed anaerobic bioreactors limited by the micronutrient cobalt.