Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors for treatment of wastewater from the brewery industry

Abstract

Anaerobic digestion can be utilized to convert industrial wastewater into clean water and energy. The goal of this project was to set up lab-scale anaerobic digesters to collect data that will be used to develop and validate a predictive monitoring and controls solution to improve digester performance. The research project involved the design, construction, and instrumentation of lab-scale anaerobic digestion reactors to be used for the treatment of brewery wastewater. Useful parameters for monitoring the health of the digesters were identified and techniques for measuring each parameter were evaluated to determine the best analytical methods. A synthetic brewery wastewater was prepared and the reactors were operated until a stable steady-state was achieved. Data was collected to evaluate the anaerobic digesters from start-up to steady-state, and controlled variations were implemented in order to obtain transient data for the supervisory model. Initial perturbations in organic loading rate and influent pH suggest that gas composition and gas production appear to be the best on-line monitoring parameters to indicate changes in reactor conditions.