title: Full-scale evaluation of heat balance for autothermal thermophilic aerobic treatment of food processing wastewater.
abstract: A full-scale autothermal thermophilic aerobic treatment (ATAT) of food-processing wastewater was evaluated in this study. The wastewater was rich in oil and grease at concentrations of 1,500-2,000 mg/L. The system has been operated for more than one and a half years since the startup. Under steady state conditions, the ATAT process was capable of spontaneous reaction at temperatures of 45-55 degrees C without the addition of external heat. Treatment efficiency was as high as 95% in COD reduction at a volumetric COD loading of 4.1 kg/m3-d. A mathematical heat balance model was developed based on the theoretical considerations of heat sources and losses for the ATAT process. A computer algorithm was established to evaluate specific heat potential (Hs) of the wastewater under steady state conditions. Six months of steady-state data were used for the evaluation. The result shows that on average the wastewater had a specific heat potential (Hs) of 4,720 kcal/kg-COD removed and the biological heat contributed 41.4% of the total heat input. A net heat flux of 4,270 kcal/min and volumetric heat intensity (Hv) of 38.0 kcal/L was necessary to maintain reaction temperature at 48.2 degrees C for the ATAT process. The full-scale ATAT process showed the typical characteristics of high removal rate, low sludge yield, and poor solids settleability for thermophilic aerobic treatment reported in the literature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Management, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan 40227, Taiwan.
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Chiang
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: L K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Sung
authors.forename: Y S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000332:Aerobiosis; D000388:Air; D000465:Algorithms; D019149:Bioreactors; D005223:Fats / Q000378:metabolism; D005525:Food-Processing Industry / Q000379:methods*; D006358:Hot Temperature; D009821:Oils / Q000378:metabolism; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism*; D012722:Sewage / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000382:microbiology; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D005223:Fats; D009821:Oils; D012722:Sewage; D010100:Oxygen