FRESENIUS ENVIRONMENTAL BULLETIN, cilt.21, sa.8B, ss.2394-2398, 2012 (SCI-Expanded)
The study aims to investigate the specific methanogenic activity (SMA) and kinetic coefficients for anaerobic granular sludge under low temperatures. Activity test can be used to outline the operating condition for the system and a parameter to assess the system performance by giving a better understanding of the system performance and stability. The granular sludge samples for SMA test were taken from a lab scale Anaerobic Sequencing Batch Reactor (ASBR) operating for treatment of the low strength wastewater at low temperature. Microbial activities were determined through methane production from acetate. The activities at temperature 25, 15 and 10 degrees C were found as 0.74 gCOD/gVSSd, 0.70 gCOD/gVSSd, and 0.68 gCOD/gVSSd, respectively. As expected, the activity decreased with decreased temperature. First order kinetic model and Gompertz equation was applied to determine the kinetic constant for methane production at batch study. Methane production rate constants for Gompertz equation are as follows; R=0.327 (mlCH(4)h(-1)), M-max=4.97 (ml), and lambda=0.45 at 25 degrees C, R=0.429 (mlCH(4)h(-1)), M-max=3.95 (ml), and lambda=0.98 at 15 degrees C, and R=0.286 (mlCH(4)h(-1)), M-max=3.56 (ml), and lambda=0.83 at 10 degrees C.