title: Treatment of high-strength corn steep liquor using cultivated polyvinyl alcohol gel beads in an anaerobic fluidized-bed reactor.
abstract: Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) gel beads cultivated in an upflow anaerobic sludge-blanket reactor treating synthetic corn steep liquor (CSL) wastewater were used to seed a lab-scale anaerobic fluidized-bed (AFB) reactor also treating CSL. Under steady-state conditions in the AFB reactor, a COD removal efficiency in excess of 96% was achieved at an organic loading rate (OLR) of 25 g/l/d with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 10 h. Furthermore, a removal efficiency of 91% was achieved at an OLR of 27.5 g/l/d with an HRT of only 6 h. With a biomass attachment 1.02 g VSS/g PVA-gel beads, the biomass concentration in the AFB reactor was approximately 610 g/l, while for natural granules only 100 g/l is considered possible. Over the study period, the granular PVA gel turned from black to gray while the biomass attached on the outer surface of the beads also changed in composition. In addition, observations of the interior of the gel beads showed that colonization had progressed well into the core, indicating that effective substrate diffusion occurred within the PVA-gel matrix under the good substrate-microorganism contact conditions provided by the AFB reactor.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kumamoto University, 2-39-1, Kurokami, Kumamoto 860-8555, Japan. zhangwj_zhangwj@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Wenjie
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Qinglin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Joseph D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Rouse
authors.forename: Sen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Furukawa
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D019149:Bioreactors; D004058:Diffusion; D004867:Equipment Design; D005782:Gels; D007220:Industrial Waste; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008858:Microscopy, Phase-Contrast; D011142:Polyvinyl Alcohol / Q000737:chemistry*; D012722:Sewage; D013997:Time Factors; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods; D003313:Zea mays
chemical_list: D005782:Gels; D007220:Industrial Waste; D012722:Sewage; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D011142:Polyvinyl Alcohol