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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, April 1999, p. 1696-1702, Vol. 65, No. 4
0099-2240/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

High-Rate Anaerobic Treatment of Wastewater at Low Temperatures

Gatze Lettinga,1,* Salih Rebac,1 Sofia Parshina,2 Alla Nozhevnikova,2 Jules B. van Lier,1 and Alfons J. M. Stams3

Sub-Department Environmental Technology, Wageningen Agricultural University, 6703 HD Wageningen,1 and Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen Agricultural University, 6703 CT Wageningen,3 The Netherlands, and Institute of Microbiology of Russian Academy of Sciences, 117811 Moscow, Russia2

Received 5 October 1998/Accepted 14 January 1999

Anaerobic treatment of a volatile fatty acid (VFA) mixture was investigated under psychrophilic (3 to 8°C) conditions in two laboratory-scale expanded granular sludge bed reactor stages in series. The reactor system was seeded with mesophilic methanogenic granular sludge and fed with a mixture of VFAs. Good removal of fatty acids was achieved in the two-stage system. Relative high levels of propionate were present in the effluent of the first stage, but propionate was efficiently removed in the second stage, where a low hydrogen partial pressure and a low acetate concentration were advantageous for propionate oxidation. The specific VFA-degrading activities of the sludge in each of the modules doubled during system operation for 150 days, indicating a good enrichment of methanogens and proton-reducing acetogenic bacteria at such low temperatures. The specific degradation rates of butyrate, propionate, and the VFA mixture amounted to 0.139, 0.110, and 0.214 g of chemical oxygen demand g of volatile suspended solids-1 day-1, respectively. The biomass which was obtained after 1.5 years still had a temperature optimum of between 30 and 40°C.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Sub-Department Environmental Technology, Wageningen Agricultural University, Bomenweg 2, 6703 HD Wageningen, The Netherlands. Phone: 31 317 483 437/483 339. Fax: 31 317 482 108. Bitnet/E-mail: Gatze.Lettinga{at}Algemeen.mt.wau.nl.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, April 1999, p. 1696-1702, Vol. 65, No. 4
0099-2240/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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