Performance evaluation and kinetic modeling of down-flow high-rate anaerobic bioreactors for poultry slaughterhouse wastewater treatment

Mahomet Njoya; Moses Basitere; Seteno Karabo Obeb Ntwampe; Jun Wei Lim

doi:10.1007/s11356-020-11397-5

Performance evaluation and kinetic modeling of down-flow high-rate anaerobic bioreactors for poultry slaughterhouse wastewater treatment

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2021 Feb;28(8):9529-9541. doi: 10.1007/s11356-020-11397-5. Epub 2020 Nov 4.

Authors

Mahomet Njoya^{1

2}, Moses Basitere^{3

4}, Seteno Karabo Obeb Ntwampe⁵, Jun Wei Lim⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, P. O. Box 652, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa. mahomet.njoya@gmail.com.
² Bioresource Engineering Research Group (BioERG), Department of Biotechnology, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, P. O. Box 652, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa. mahomet.njoya@gmail.com.
³ Department of Chemical Engineering, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, P. O. Box 652, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa.
⁴ Bioresource Engineering Research Group (BioERG), Department of Biotechnology, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, P. O. Box 652, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa.
⁵ School of Chemical and Minerals Engineering, North West University, Private BagX1290, Potchefstroom, 2520, South Africa.
⁶ Department of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, HICoE-Centre for Biofuel and Biochemical Research, Institute of Self-Sustainable Building, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610, Seri Iskandar, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia.

PMID: 33145736
DOI: 10.1007/s11356-020-11397-5

Abstract

In this study, the treatment of poultry slaughterhouse wastewater (PSW) was evaluated using two new down-flow high-rate anaerobic bioreactor systems (HRABS), including the down-flow expanded granular bed reactor (DEGBR) and the static granular bed reactor (SGBR). These two bioreactors have demonstrated a good performance for the treatment of PSW with removal percentages of the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD₅), the chemical oxygen demand (COD), and fats, oil, and grease (FOG) exceeding 95% during peak performance days. This performance of down-flow HRABS appears as a breakthrough in the field of anaerobic treatment of medium to high-strength wastewater because down-flow anaerobic bioreactors have been neglected for the high-rate anaerobic treatment of such wastewater due to the success of up-flow anaerobic reactors such as the UASB and the EGSB as a result of the granulation of a consortium of anaerobic bacteria required for efficient anaerobic digestion and biogas production. Hence, to promote the recourse to such technologies and provide further explanation to their performance, this study approached the kinetic analysis of these two down-flow HRABS using the modified Stover-Kincannon and the Grau second-order multi-component substrate models. From a comparison between the two models investigated, the modified Stover-Kincannon model provided the best prediction for the concentration of the substrate in the effluent from the two HRABS. This analysis led to the determination of the kinetic parameters of the two models that can be used for the design of the two HRABS and the prediction of the performance of the SGBR and DEGBR. The kinetic parameters determined using the Modified Stover-Kincannon were Umax = 40.5 gCOD/L.day and K_B = 47.3 gCOD/L.day for the DEGBR and U_max = 33.6 gCOD/L.day and K_B = 44.9 gCOD/L.day for the SGBR; while, using the Grau second-order model, the kinetic models determined were a = 0.058 and b = 1.112 for the DEGBR and a = 0.135 and b = 1.33 for the SGBR.

Keywords: Anaerobic reactor configuration; Biochemical oxygen demand; Biological inferences; Chemical oxygen demand; Grau second order model; Kinetic parameters; Modified Stover-Kincannon model.

MeSH terms

Abattoirs*
Anaerobiosis
Animals
Bioreactors
Kinetics
Poultry
Waste Disposal, Fluid
Water Purification*