Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 18, 2026

Evaluation of Integrated Anaerobic Digestion and Hydrothermal Carbonization for Bioenergy Production
Published on: June 15, 2014
Sewage treatment by an UAFB-EGSB biosystem with energy recovery and autotrophic nitrogen removal under different
Da-Wen Gao1, Xiao-Li Huang1, Yu Tao1
1State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China.
Abstract:
A system combined an upflow anaerobic fixed bed (UAFB) and an expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) was designed and verified as a success for treating real sewage with simultaneous energy recovery and autotrophic nitrogen removal. The impact of temperature (stepwise decreased from 30 °C to 20 °C and 10 °C) was a primary focus, aiming to reveal the response of the anaerobic digestion (AD) and anammox efficiency to the temperature variation. As the temperature decreases, the soluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD) removal rate was 90.6%, 90.0% and 84.7%, respectively; total nitrogen (TN) removal was 69.4%, 48.8%, 38.4%, respectively; NH4(+)-N removal was 91.3%, 74.9%, 65.1%, respectively. Methanogenic activity of UAFB was significantly influenced by low temperatures, while the unavoidable growth of heterotrophic organisms in EGSB also contributed to the sCOD removal, even at 10 °C. Lower working temperature (10/20 °C) limited the growth and activity of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and anaerobic ammonia oxidation bacteria (AnAOB), but improved the nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) activity.
Related Concept Videos
Bioreactor Design and Operational System
Microbial Bioremediation of Uranium
Biofuels
Bioreactor Controls-II
Bioreactor Controls-I
Environmental Applications of Microorganisms

