Trace metals supplementation in anaerobic membrane bioreactors treating highly saline phenolic wastewater

Julian David Muñoz Sierra; Carlos Lafita; Carmen Gabaldón; Henri Spanjers; Jules B van Lier

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2017.03.032

Trace metals supplementation in anaerobic membrane bioreactors treating highly saline phenolic wastewater

Bioresour Technol. 2017 Jun:234:106-114. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.03.032. Epub 2017 Mar 7.

Authors

Julian David Muñoz Sierra¹, Carlos Lafita², Carmen Gabaldón³, Henri Spanjers⁴, Jules B van Lier⁴

Affiliations

¹ Section Sanitary Engineering, Department of Water Management, Delft University of Technology, Stevinweg 1, 2628CN Delft, The Netherlands. Electronic address: J.D.MunozSierra@tudelft.nl.
² Section Sanitary Engineering, Department of Water Management, Delft University of Technology, Stevinweg 1, 2628CN Delft, The Netherlands; Research Group GI(2)AM, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Valencia, Avda. Universitat s/n, 46100 Burjassot, Spain.
³ Research Group GI(2)AM, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Valencia, Avda. Universitat s/n, 46100 Burjassot, Spain.
⁴ Section Sanitary Engineering, Department of Water Management, Delft University of Technology, Stevinweg 1, 2628CN Delft, The Netherlands.

PMID: 28319758
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.03.032

Abstract

Biomass requires trace metals (TM) for maintaining its growth and activity. This study aimed to determine the effect of TM supplementation and partitioning on the specific methanogenic activity (SMA), with a focus on cobalt and tungsten, during the start-up of two lab-scale Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors (AnMBRs) treating saline phenolic wastewater. The TM partitioning revealed a strong accumulation of sodium in the biomass matrix and a wash-out of the majority of TM in the reactors, which led to an SMA decrease and a low COD removal of about 30%. The SMA exhibits a maximum at about 6g Na⁺ L^-1 and nearly complete inhibition at 34g Na⁺ L^-1. The dose of 0.5mgL^-1 of tungsten increases the SMA by 17%, but no improvement was observed with the addition of cobalt. The results suggested that TM were not bioavailable at high salinity. Accordingly, an increased COD removal was achieved by doubling the supply of TM.

Keywords: Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor; Methanogenic activity; Phenol; Sodium; Trace metals partitioning.

MeSH terms

Anaerobiosis
Bacteria, Anaerobic
Bioreactors
Metals
Methane
Waste Disposal, Fluid*
Wastewater*

Substances

Metals
Waste Water
Methane