Tratamiento anaerobio de aguas residuales urbanas en reactores de una y dos fases a baja temperatura.

The anaerobic treatment of urban wastewaters (UWW) is carried out successfully in climates with temperatures higher than 20°C. However, at lower temperatures, there is an association of several factors that prevents a traditional system as the UASB reactor to remove organic matter satisfactorily. This research used a two‐phase system in which the first reactor incremented the solubilization of the particulate organic matter (stirred tank type) and a second methanogenic reactor removed the dissolved organic matter (UASB reactor). The two‐phase system can be compared with a traditional UASB reactor. The urban wastewater used presented a suspended solid fraction of 70% and a temperature ranging from 11 to 23°C. The two‐phase system accomplished higher removals than the single‐phase system, because the solubilization reactor at low temperatures was able to increment the initial soluble fraction from the hydrolysis of the suspended solids. Thus, the inflow into the two‐phase UASB reactor was made up mostly of fermentation products and dissolved organic matter that could be efficiently degraded at low temperatures. Although there was a low concentration of biomass in the solubilization reactor, it was completely flocculent and had a hydrolytic activity that was increased during the operation time. On the other hand, the biomass in the two‐phase UASB reactor maintained a granular characteristic with good hydrolytic and methanogenic activity. It is worth mentioning the intense acidogenic activity in this reactor and the high Vs of 0.9 m/h with which it operated without producing biomass washout. Conversely, the single‐phase system could not operate with a Vs higher than 0.5 if the reactor was not washed, and although a high concentration biomass could be obtained, it was totally flocculent and presented low hydrolytic, acidogenic and methanogenic activity, which explains why this system was not able to stand organic overloads, nor remove organic matter satisfactorily in comparison with the two‐phase system.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	González Contreras, Paula, Chamy Maggi, Rolando, Poirrier González, Paola
Format:	Digital revista
Language:	spa
Published:	Instituto de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México 2009
Online Access:	https://www.revistas.unam.mx/index.php/aidis/article/view/14384
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