An Unstructured Model for Anaerobic Treatment of Raw Cheese Whey for Volatile Fatty Acids Production

Claudio B-Arroyo, Antonio Lara-Musule, Ervin Alvarez-Sanchez, Gloria Trejo-Aguilar, Juan-Rodrigo Bastidas-Oyanedel and Eliseo Hernandez-Martinez
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Claudio B-Arroyo: Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa Veracruz 91090, Mexico
Antonio Lara-Musule: Facultad de Ingeniería Mecánica-Eléctrica, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa Veracruz 91090, Mexico
Ervin Alvarez-Sanchez: Facultad de Ingeniería Mecánica-Eléctrica, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa Veracruz 91090, Mexico
Gloria Trejo-Aguilar: Departamento de Biotecnología, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Iztapalapa, Cd. Mexico 09340, Mexico
Juan-Rodrigo Bastidas-Oyanedel: SDU-KBM, Department of Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology and Environmental Technology, University of Southern Denmark, 5230 Odense, Denmark
Eliseo Hernandez-Martinez: Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa Veracruz 91090, Mexico

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 7, 1-14

Abstract: The whey is a byproduct of the dairy industry that, if not treated properly, can cause serious environmental pollution problems. Anaerobic treatment is an alternative for its recovery, since, in addition to reducing the organic load. it allows the generation of value-added products such as volatile fatty acids (VFA) and biogas. However, the process is very complex and requires specific operating conditions that guarantee its stability and favor the production of value-added compounds. In this work, an unstructured mathematical model is proposed to evaluate the dynamic behavior of the stages of the anaerobic degradation process of the whey (i.e., hydrolysis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis and methanogenesis). The proposed model considers the dynamic variation in pH during the experiment. To validate the model, an experimental set was carried out at pH and temperature conditions that favor the production of VFAs. Experimental results show that the anaerobic treatment of the raw cheese whey favors pH = 5.5; for T = 40 °C, the maximum VFA production is obtained (30.71 g COD L −1 ), and for T = 35 °C, a 45.81% COD degradation is reached. The proposed model considers the effect of pH and temperature and it is validated in the region where the experimental tests were carried out. The model parameters were estimated using the Levenberg–Marquardt method, obtaining coefficients of determination R 2 > 0.94. The proposed model can describe the dynamic behavior of the key variables in the anaerobic treatment of raw cheese whey at different pH and temperature conditions, finding that VFA production is favored at pH ≥ 7, while the highest COD removal results in acidic conditions

Keywords: anaerobic fermentation; dynamic modelling; pH and temperature effects; parametric estimation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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