title: Development of a two-stage flexible fibre biofilm reactor for treatment of food processing wastewater.
abstract: Biofilm (or attached growth) reactors can be effectively used to treat organic wastewater from various industries such as food processing industry. They have a number of advantages including high organic loading rates (OLRs) and improved operational stability. A flexible fibre biofim reactor (FFBR) has been developed for efficient and cost effective treatment of food processing wastewater. In the process, simple flexible fibre packing with a very high specific surface area is used as support for microorganisms. The COD removal efficiencies for a range of OLRs have been studied. The FFBR can support an increasingly high OLR, but with a corresponding decrease in the COD removal efficiency. Therefore, a two-stage FFBR was developed to increase the treatment efficiency for systems with high OLRs. Experimental results indicated that a high overall COD removal efficiency could be achieved. At an influent COD of about 2700 mg/L and an OLR of 7.7 kgCOD/m3d, COD removal efficiencies of 76% and 82% were achieved in the first and the second stage of the reactor, respectively. The overall COD removal efficiency was 96%. Therefore, even for wastewater samples with high organic strength, high quality treated effluents could be readily achieved by the use of multiple stage FFBRs.
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental Engineering, Griffith University, Nathan Campus, Brisbane, Queensland 4111, Australia. Jimmy.Yu@mailbox.gu.edu.au
authors.forename: Q J
authors.initials: QJ
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Williams
mesh_terms: D018441:Biofilms; D019149:Bioreactors; D005160:Facility Design and Construction; D019649:Food Industry; D007220:Industrial Waste; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D007220:Industrial Waste; D010100:Oxygen