Biodegradation of distillery spent wash in anaerobic hybrid

reactor

Gupta Sunil Kumara, ,

, S.K. Guptab, and Gurdeep Singha,
a
Centre of Mining Environment, Indian school of Mines, Dhanbad 826004, India
b
Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India
Received 4 May 2006; 
revised 26 October 2006; 
accepted 23 November 2006. 
Available online 16 January 2007.

Abstract
A lab-scale anaerobic hybrid (combining sludge blanket and filter) reactor was operated in a continuous mode to
study anaerobic biodegradation of distillery-spent wash. The study demonstrated that at optimum hydraulic retention

time (HRT), 5 days and organic loading rate (OLR), , the COD removal efficiency of the reactor
was 79%. The anaerobic reduction of sulfate increases sulfide concentration, which inhibited the metabolism of
methanogens and reduced the performance of the reactors. The kinetics of biomass growth i.e. yield coefficient

(Y,0.0532) and decay coefficient (Kd, ) was obtained using Lawrence and McCarty model. However, this
model failed in determining the kinetics of substrate utilization. Bhatia et al. model having inbuilt provision of process

inhibition described the kinetics of substrate utilization, i.e. maximum rate of substrate utilization and

inhibition coefficient values . Modeling of the reactor demonstrated that Parkin and Speece, and
Bhatia et al. models, both, could be used to predict the effluent substrate concentration. However, Parkin and Speece
model predicts effluent COD more precisely (within ±2%) than Bhatia et al. model (within ±5–20%) of the
experimental value. Karhadkar et al. model predicted biogas yield within ±5% of the experimental value.

Keywords: Anaerobic digestion; Spent wash; Anaerobic hybrid reactor; Sulfide toxicity; Kinetics of biodegradation;
Mathematical modeling

Nomenclature

θc
sludge retention time, days

Ym
yield coefficient, mg biomass/mg substrate
S0
influent substrate concentration, mg/L

S
effluent substrate concentration after time θ, mg/L

θ
HRT, days

X
biomass concentration, mg/L

Kd
decay coefficient, d-1

Ks
monod half-velocity constant, mg/L

k
maximum substrate utilization rate, d-1

Ki
inhibition coefficient, L/mg

Is
effluent sulfide concentration, mg/L

R
maximum rate of substrate utilization (T-1)

Tx
inhibitor (hydrogen sulfide) concentration (ML-3)

Q
discharge/flow rate of influent (L3T-1)

G
conversion factor (M-1L3)

TBA4.3
true bicarbonate alkalinity as CaCO3, mg/L

Alk4.3
total alkalinity as CaCO3, mg/L

VFA
volatile fatty acids, mg/L

Article Outline

Nomenclature

1.
Introduction

2.
Materials and methodology
2.1. Experimental set-up and design
2.2. Analytical methods
2.3. Reactor start-up and acclimatization of seed culture
2.4. HRT study
2.5. Estimation of true bicarbonate alkalinity
2.6. Determination of kinetics of biomass growth and substrate utilization
2.7. Model verification for prediction of effluent substrate
2.8. Model verification for prediction of biogas yield

3.
Results and discussion
3.1. Characterization of spent wash
3.2. HRT study
3.3. Kinetics of bacterial growth
3.4. Kinetics of substrate utilization
3.5. Identification of suitable model for the present system
3.6. Determination of kinetic coefficients of Bhatia et al. model
3.7. Model verification for prediction of effluent substrate
3.8. Model for prediction of biogas yield

4.
Conclusions
References

Fig. 1. Anaerobic
hybrid reactor.

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Fig. 2. Experimental
design of HRT study.

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Fig. 3. COD removal
profile at various
HRTs.

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Fig. 4. Biogas
generation profile at
various HRTs.

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Fig. 5. Sulfate removal
profile at various
HRTs.

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Fig. 6. Relationship of
VFA and various forms
of alkalinity.

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Fig. 7. Relationship
between specific gas
production and organic
loading rate.

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Fig. 8. Estimation of Kd
and Y of the biomass
growth using Lawrence
and McCarty model.

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Fig. 9. Estimation of k
and Ks using Bhatia et
al. model.

View Within Article

Fig. 10. Estimation of
R and Ki of substrate
utilization using Parkin
and Speece model.

View Within Article

Fig. 11. Comparison of
experimental and
predicted effluent COD
of the reactor using
Bhatia et al. model.

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Fig. 12. Comparison of
experimental and
predicted effluent
substrate by Parkin
and Speece model.

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Fig. 13. Comparison of
observed and
predicted biogas yield
using Karhadkar et al.
model.

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Table 1.
Characteristics of
anaerobically digested

sludge
View Within Article

Table 2.
Characteristics of
spent wash collected
from SSK Distilleries
(Ltd.), Niphad, Nasik,

Maharashtra
a
 All values except pH
are in mg/L.
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Table 3. Mass balance

of COD and biogas
yield at optimum HRT,

5 days
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 Corresponding author.
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