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Appl Environ Microbiol. 1993 June; 59(6): 1742-1746

Acetate Degradation at 70°C in Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactors and Temperature Response of Granules Grown at 70°C

¹ Water and Environmental Engineering, Tampere University of Technology, P.O. Box 600, SF-33101 Tampere, Finland, and The Anaerobic Microbiology/Biotechnology Group, Department of Biotechnology, The Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark²

ABSTRACT

Anaerobic acetate degradation at 70°C and at 55°C (as a reference) was studied by running laboratory upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors inoculated with mesophilic granular sludge. In UASB reactors fed with acetate-containing media (3 g of chemical oxygen demand [COD] per liter, corresponding to 47 mM acetate) approximately 50 days was needed at 70°C and less than 15 days was needed at 55°C to achieve an effluent COD of 500 to 700 mg/liter. In the UASB reactors at both 70 and 55°C up to 90% of the COD was removed. Batch assays showed that sludges from two 70°C UASB reactors, one run at a low effluent acetate concentration and the other run at a high effluent acetate concentration, exhibited slightly different responses to temperatures in the range from 37 to 70°C. Both 70°C sludges, as well as the 55°C sludge, produced methane at temperatures of 37 to 73°C. The 55°C sludge exhibited shorter lag phases than the 70°C sludges and higher specific methane production rates between 37 and 65°C.

^* Corresponding author.