Ho, J., Chiu, S., and Chen, H. (2021) The Addition of Saccharomyces pastorianus to Improve Anaerobic Immobilized Bioreactor Treatment. | Unpublished Manuscript

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Paper Abstract

The performance of the energy-generating anaerobic wastewater treatment process is significantly decreased when situated under psychrophilic conditions (below 15°C). Many studies have aimed to mitigate the inefficiency of the treatment process through the development of new anaerobic reactors, such as the AnMBR, UASB, and EGSB reactors. This study proposed and investigated a novel approach of employing the anaerobic immobilized bio-plates reactor (AnIBPR) with the co-feeding of psychrophilic brewery yeast strains. The theoretical foundation of the proposed approach is that the fermentation of psychrophilic brewery yeasts accelerates hydrolysis rates through the degradation of carbohydrates and produces ethanol as a byproduct, a reactant that can substitute for reduced acidogenesis rates through ethanol oxidation, while simultaneously raising the system temperature through heat generation. Results indicated an average temperature rise of 4°C after the addition of the yeast strain Saccharomyces pastorianus (S. pastorianus). In addition, an enhancement of carbon oxygen demand (COD) removal and CH4 biogas production, with an average COD removal rate of 88% and CH4 composition of 61.79%, was observed. S. pastorianus fermentation was further found to lower the AnIBPR pH from 6.4 to 5.7, which is beneficial to ethanol production. Moreover, CH4 biogas production and COD removal were facilitated under mesophilic and psychrophilic conditions, though mesophilic conditions displayed minimal improvement. This study suggests that

S. pastorianus aid is prominent under psychrophilic conditions.

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Keywords

Anaerobic wastewater treatment, Psychrophilic treatment, Low-strength wastewater, Saccharomyces pastorianus, Anaerobic immobilized bio-plates reactor (AnIBPR)​