Affiliations 

  • 1 School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Engineering Campus, Seri Ampangan, 14300 NibongTebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
  • 2 School of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Engineering Campus, Seri Ampangan, 14300 NibongTebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Environ Technol, 2014 Jan-Feb;35(1-4):294-9.
PMID: 24600868

Abstract

Start-up period is considered to be the most unstable and difficult stage in anaerobic process and usually takes a long time due to slow-degree adaptation of anaerobic microorganisms. In order to achieve a shorter start-up period, a novel modified anaerobic baffled reactor (MABR) has been developed in this study, where each modified baffle has its own characteristics (form/shape) to facilitate a treatment ofrecycled paper mill effluent (RPME). The results ofphysico-chemical characteristics showed that effluent from recycled paper mill consisted of 4328mgL-1 chemical oxygen demand (COD), 669mg L-1 biochemical oxygen demand and 501mg L-1 volatile fatty acid. It also consisted of variety of heavy metals such as zinc, magnesium, iron and nickel at concentrations of 1.39, 12.19, 2.39 and 0.72 mgL-1, respectively. Performance of MABR during the start-up period showed that methane production reached 34.7% with COD removal of 85% at steady state. The result indicates that MABR was successfully operated during the start-up period in treating RPME within a period of less than 30 days.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.