Carrier Influence for the Treatment of Industrial Wastewaters in Anaerobic Biofilm Fluidized Bed Reactors

Abstract

The continuous anaerobic degradation of vapour condensate from the cellulose process and brewery wastewater was investigated in parallel experiments using a variety of carriers in eleven single stage biofilm fluidized bed reactors. The carrier materials were shale, porous glass, quartz sand, activated carbon, pumice and anthracite. The reactors were operated for more than a year with vapour condensate from a sulphite cellulose process and mixed brewery wastewater as substrates. The performance and stability of the reactors with the respect to degradation rates were evaluated for a range of loading conditions. With the brewery waste, the highest degradation rates were obtained with the low-density and porous carriers, activated carbon and anthracite. Only the results with the brewery wastes are presented here.