[Calcium carbonate precipitation in UASB reactors with different substrates].

Two lab scale upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactors were operated at an organic loading rate of COD 9 kg x (m3 x d)(-1) to treat two kinds of calcium containing wastewaters, one of which took acetic acid as substrate and for the other, glucose and soluble starch were the substrate. Both the wastewaters contained 800 mg x L(-1) Ca+. Precipitation of calcium carbonate in the reactors was observed. The results showed that the kind of substrate had great influence on calcium carbonate precipitation. In the reactor treating acetic acid containing wastewater, a maximum calcium precipitation rate of 65% was achieved and an average rate of about 25% was then maintained. In contrast, the calcium precipitation rate for the glucose and soluble starch containing wastewater was only about 7.5%. It was also found that substantial precipitation only occurred 30 days after the reactor were operated for both of the wastewaters. After 180 days of operation, the ash content of the sludge in the reactors increased from about 10% to 70% for the acetic acid containing wastewater and 30% for the other. However, the increase of ash content had no negative influence on the COD removal efficiency, which was kept at about 90% throughout the experimental period. By the SEM it was inferred that the different substrates caused the differences of the granular sludge microstructure, leading to the diversity of calcium carbonate precipitation in the two reactors.

The settling characteristics and mean settling velocity of granular sludge in upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB)-like reactors.

Mean settling velocity of granular sludge in full-scale UASB (upflow anaerobic sludge blanket) and EGSB (expanded granular sludge bed) reactors was evaluated by settling column tests, and a settling velocity model based on the experimental results and available literature data was developed. It is concluded that the settling velocity should be calculated by the Allen formula, because the settling process of the granules is in the category of intermediate flow regime rather than in the laminar flow one. The comparison between calculated and measured values of the settling velocity shows an excellent agreement, with an average relative error of 4.04%. A simple but reliable mathematical method to determine the settling velocity is therefore proposed.