Produção de hidrogênio e metano em reatores anaeróbios de leito fixo em série a partir de efluente de fecularia de mandioca

Abstract

This study evaluated the hydrogen and methane production from cassava starch wastewater in reactors in series. The acidogenic and methanogenic reactors were operated in a continuous flow and trials were divided into three stages. In Stage 1, three essays for hydrogen production evaluated the effect of initial pH (6.0 and 4.5), substrate concentration (1.4, 1.1 and 2.2 g total carbohydrates.L-1) and strategies to control biomass (by disposal or change in the structure of such support material with low density polyethylene) in anaerobic reactors of fixed bed and upflow at 36 °C. The best operating condition among the evaluated ones was pH 6.0 and concentration of 1.4 g total carbohydrates.L-1, which resulted in Hydrogen Volumetric Productions (HVP) of 229 mL.L-1.d-1 and yield of 29.4 mL.g-1total carbohydrate. The best strategy to control biomass was the sort of bed with polyethylene cylinders, which provided the least changes in flow regime and excessive growth of biomass. In Stage 2, the effect of inoculum source was evaluated in two packed-bed reactors operating according to the following conditions: pH 6.0; 2 g.L-1concentration of substrate, 20 g.L-1.d-1organic loading rate (OLR) and hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 2-hour. In the inoculated reactor with autofermented effluent, the answers were: 550 mL.L-1.d-1and hydrogen yield of 38mL.g-1total carbohydrates. These values were higher than those observed for the reactor inoculated with anaerobic heat-treated sludge, which indicated that the use of simple inoculums is a viable strategy for hydrogen production under the tested conditions. In addition to these essays, the influence of ORL and HRT were also evaluated. The increase of ORL (10 to 20 g-total carbohydrates.L-1.d-1) and decrease of HRT (4 to 2 hour) resulted in a higherhydrogen production (467 mL.L-1.d-1), hydrogen percentage in the studied biogas (40%) and molar flow rate (2.16 mmol.h-1). Therefore, the average yield of 30 mL H2.g-1 total carbohydrate was the same for both conditions tested. In general, butyric acid was associated with higherhydrogen production, followed by acetic and propionic acids, besides ethanol, in the five analyzed essays. In Stage 3, methane production from the acidified effluent was evaluated in a horizontal anaerobic reactor of fixed bed and continuous flow, operated at mesophilic temperature. The operating conditions were divided into four stages, whose variations were: initial pH (5.0 and 7.0), OLR (1.54; 3.54 and 6 g-COD.L-1.d-1) and HRT (5; 1.5 and 1.1 d). The results of effluent pH greater than 7.0, volatile acidity/total alkalinity of 0.2 and 98% removal of organic matter showed that the reactor performance was not impaired by the separation of acidogenic and methanogenic stages. The highest production of methane was observed in Phase IV, with pH 5.0, 6 g.L-1.d-1 OLR and 1.1 d HRT, resulting in average values of 0.82 L.L-1.d-1 for volumetric methane production, 0.85 L.g-1CODremoved yield and 80% methane in biogas composition. The energy efficiency in the combined system was 17% higher than the one observed in the single system for the treatment of cassava starch wastewater.