Two-phase anaerobic digestion of coffee wet wastewater: Effect of recycle on anaerobic process performance

Abstract

The present work shows the results of the two-phase anaerobic digestion assessment for the treatment of coffee wet wastewater. The effect of recycle on the anaerobic digestion process was studied. Twooverall organic loading rate (OLR) values of 4,2 and 5,7 kgCOD·m -3 ·d -1 , with same overall hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 21,5 h was evaluated.In a two-phase system wereapplied two recycle rate of 0,4 and 1,0, of the effluent of an UASB-UAF methanogenic hybrid reactor towards an UASB acidogenic reactor. In the anaerobic system with a recycle rate of 1,0 the total chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal was 90%. The introduction of the recycle decreased the concentration of total volatile fatty acids (VFA), but it did not affect their composition, suggesting that the degradation pattern did not change. The presence of the acidogenic reactor in the two-phase system improved the stability of the anaerobic digestion process and increased the efficiency of methanogenic digester.