Media Factors Affecting the Performance of Upflow Anaerobic Packed-Bed Reactors

Numerous studies have demonstrated that anaerobic packed-bed reactors (APBRs) containing media such as clay chip, small stone, and porous plastic modules are effective for treating a variety of organic wastes. Most of these studies focused on the treatment capabilities of the processes, yet little work was done about the factors affecting their designs and performance. This paper presents the results of a study on a laboratory scale APBR system examining the significance of media factors such as media roughness, specific surface area, porosity and pore size on treatment performance. The results showed that media roughness and pore size were more important over surface area on the reactor performance. Within the same media porosity, pore size plays a more significant role than surface area in term of COD removal efficiency. The study indicates that the ability of a support medium to retain biomass either as suspended growth entrapped in the void space, or by attachment to the media surface is a significant consideration in an upflow APBR. A testing protocol for measuring methane gas produced by the suspended biomass using a batch serum bottle technique was developed and presented in this study. The method involved measurements of hourly methane production and instantaneous TOC concentration from the suspended biological solids extracted from various reactor heights. The proportion of methane production associated with the suspended biomass was as high as 58% at organic loading rate of 16 g COD/L.day. The results suggest that media pore size and porosity play a significant role in the performance of upflow APBRs.