Comparative performance of a UASB reactor and an anaerobic packed-bed reactor when treating potato waste leachate

W. Parawira, M. Murto, R. Zvauya and B. Mattiasson

Renewable Energy, 2006, vol. 31, issue 6, 893-903

Abstract: The results presented in this paper are from studies on a laboratory-scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor and an anaerobic packed-bed (APB) reactor treating potato leachate at increasing organic loading rates from 1.5 to 7.0gCOD/1/day. The hydraulic retention times ranged from 13.2 to 2.8 days for both reactors during the 100 days of the experiment. The maximum organic loading rates possible in the laboratory-scale UASB and APB reactors for stable operation were approximately 6.1 and 4.7gCOD/lday, respectively. The COD removal efficiencies of both reactors were greater than 90% based on the total COD of the effluent. The methane yield increased with increasing organic loading rate up to 0.23lCH4/gCODdegraded in the UASB reactor and 0.161CH4/gCODdegraded in the APB reactor. The UASB could be run at a higher organic loading rate than the APB reactor and achieved a higher methane yield. Signs of reactor instability were decreasing partial alkalinity and pH and increasing amounts of volatile fatty acids. The study demonstrated the suitability of the UASB and a packed-bed reactor for treating leachate from potato waste.

Keywords: Anaerobic digestion; UASB; Anaerobic packed-bed; Potato waste; Leachate; Biogas; Methane yield (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148105001102
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:31:y:2006:i:6:p:893-903

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2005.05.013

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().