Kinetics of an anaerobic moving bed reactor system treating synthetic milk wastewater

In the present study, anaerobic moving bed reactor called anaerobic rotating biological contactor treating synthetic milk wastewater operated at different organic loading rates and different hydraulic retention times, were evaluated to determine kinetic parameters for the substrate, biomass and biogas based on various models. The maximum substrate loading rate and half velocity constant were evaluated as 5.71 kgCOD/m3 x d and 1178 mg/L respectively by using Lineweaver-Burke plot. Maximum substrate removal efficiency and critical hydraulic retention time were compared with modified Young and McCarty model and the model is best fitted for the study. The complete removal of substrate cannot be expected due to presence of metabolic refractory material produced within the reactor system from influent system. Kinetic constants for maximum specific growth rate and decay coefficient were compared with the modified Monod model. Kornegay and Andrews model were used to evaluate the area capacity constant and half velocity constant. Kinetic constants for maximum specific gas production rate and proportionality constant were evaluated using Stover model. The gas production and quality are dependent on the substrate removal and substrate loading rate. The kinetic relationships derived from lab-scale experiment provided good estimates of the performance of pilot- and full-scale anaerobic rotating biological contactor packed with fibrous nylon pads and treating synthetic milk wastewater in terms of the effluent chemical oxygen demand concentrations and specific biogas production rates.