Anaerobic Digestion of Sugarcane Vinasse Through a Methanogenic UASB Reactor Followed by a Packed Bed Reactor

Abstract

The anaerobic treatment of raw vinasse in a combined system consisting in two methanogenic reactors, up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) + anaerobic packed bed reactors (APBR), was evaluated. The organic loading rate (OLR) was varied, and the best condition for the combined system was 12.5 kg COD mday with averages of 0.289 m CH kg COD rfor the UASB reactor and 4.4 kg COD mday with 0.207 m CH kg COD r for APBR. The OLR played a major role in the emission of HS conducting to relatively stable quality of biogas emitted from the APBR, with HS concentrations <10 mg L. The importance of the sulphate to COD ratio was demonstrated as a result of the low biogas quality recorded at the lowest ratio. It was possible to develop a proper anaerobic digestion of raw vinasse through the combined system with COD removal efficiency of 86.7% and higher CH and a lower HS content in biogas.

Population Changes of Eubacteria, Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria and Methanogenic Archaea in an Anaerobic Reactor Processing Ethanol Distillery Vinasse

“…m -3 .d -1 in a modified UASB reactor treating vinasses from hydrous ethanol [2]. Similar results were obtained from a UASB reactor treating raw vinasse at an optimum OLR of 12.5 ± 2.1 with η of 71.2 % [26].…”

“…The characterization of raw vinasse [26] is shown in Table 1, however the concentration of organic matter in the mixture was more diluted (raw vinasse with effluent of UASB reactor).…”

“…Mean values of raw vinasse characterization[26] Volumetric organic load (VOL), organic load removal efficiency (η) and VOL removed from the sludge blanket.…”

Full-Scale Application of Up-flow High Rate Anaerobic Reactor with Substrate Modification and Effluent Recirculation for Sugarcane Vinasse Degradation and Biogas Generation

“…The production of vinasse in a traditional alcohol factory is around 8-20 L per Liter of ethanol produced (Cabrera-Díaz et al, 2017;Joppert et al, 2017). Vinasse is characterized by a high concentration of organic matter (10-65 g BOD/l), nutrient salts (potassium (K) and sulfate), low pH (3.5-5.0), high temperature (80-90°C), and permanent dark color (brown to black) (Cabrera-Díaz et al, 2017;Joppert et al, 2017;Marafon et al, 2020). The water and soil pollution resulting from sugarcane vinasse wastewater disposal is a challenging issue that comes from the biofuel ethanol industries (Harihastuti and Marlena, 2018).Due to its high organic concentration and flowrate, sugarcane vinasse cannot be effectively treated by using conventional methods.…”

Anaerobic Process

“…HA reactor after 200 d digestion, while Aceticlastic Methanosaeta was abundant in HA reactor. However, Methanosarcina was dominated in LA reactors Cabreradíaz et al (2017). studied the raw vinasse with a combined process in two methanogenic reactors, including up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket and anaerobic packed bed reactor.…”