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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Development of Sulfidogenic Sludge from Marine Sediments and Trichloroethylene Reduction in an Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactor
Published on: October 15, 2015
Anaerobic treatment of sludge from a nitrification-denitrification landfill leachate plant
E Marañón1, L Castrillón, Y Fernández
1Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department, Higher Polytechnic School of Engineering, University of Oviedo, Campus of Viesques, 33204 Gijón, Spain. emara@uniovi.es
Abstract:
The viability of anaerobic digestion of sludge from a MSW landfill leachate treatment plant, with COD values ranging between 15,000 and 19,400mg O(2)dm(-3), in an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor was studied. The reactor employed had a useful capacity of 9l, operating at mesophilic temperature. Start-up of the reactor was carried out in different steps, beginning with diluted sludge and progressively increasing the amount of sludge fed into the reactor. The study was carried out over a period of 7 months. Different amounts of methanol were added to the feed, ranging between 6.75 and 1cm(3)dm(-3) of feed in order to favour the growth of methanogenic flora. The achieved biodegradation of the sludge using an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket Reactor was very high for an HRT of 9 days, obtaining decreases in COD of 84-87% by the end of the process. Purging of the digested sludge represented approximately 16% of the volume of the treated sludge.
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