title: Effect of packing material on organic matter removal efficiency in an anaerobic-aerobic baffled bioreactor.
abstract: The aim of the present work was to study the effect of packing material on the organic matter removal efficiency (OMRE) in an anaerobic-aerobic baffled bioreactor (AAB). For this purpose, two different experiments were conducted with two types of packing material: activated carbon (AC) particles and polyurethane foam (PF). The system consisted of two treatments; the first one was anaerobic, where hydrolysis, acetogenesis and methanogenesis took place. In anaerobic chambers, there were no packing materials and the operating conditions were the same in both experiments. The second treatment was aerobic and both materials were placed at different times as a bedding. The parameters measured were chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved chemical oxygen demand (CODd), total organic carbon (TOC), nitrate concentration (NO3-), ammonium concentration (NH4+), electric conductivity (σ), alkalinity (Alky) and hydrogen potential (pH). Paired t-Student test showed that there was no significant difference in the OMRE in anaerobic treatment, whereas there was in aerobic treatment, due to the effect of packing material. NH4+and NO3-showed a negative Pearson correlation in both experiments, indicating the presence of the nitrification process in the aerobic chamber. AAB packed with PF had better performance at obtaining an OMRE of around 63%, whereas AAB packed with AC presented an OMRE of around 51%.
authors.affiliation: a Departamento de ciencias básicas e ingeniería, Dirección de Ciencia Básicas e Ingeniería , Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana , Ciudad de México , México.|b Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigaciones y Estudios sobre Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo (CIIEMAD), Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN) , Ciudad de México , México.
authors.forename: Jacobo
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7281-1350
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tabla-Hernandez
authors.affiliation: c Departamento de Recursos de la Tierra, Dirección de Ciencia Básicas e Ingeniería , Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana , Lerma de Villada , Estado de México , México.
authors.forename: Edgar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lopez-Galvan
mesh_terms: D000693:Anaerobiosis; D057919:Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis; D019149:Bioreactors; D009566:Nitrates / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D009584:Nitrogen; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid
chemical_list: D009566:Nitrates; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: Matter removal; activated carbon; anaerobic–aerobic; baffled bioreactor; polyurethane foam