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A Comparative Study of The Industrial Discharges Effect On The Anaerobic
A Comparative Study of The Industrial Discharges Effect On The Anaerobic
A Comparative Study of The Industrial Discharges Effect On The Anaerobic
Environmental Technology
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To cite this Article Saddoud, Ahlem , Abdelkafi, Slim , Aloui, Fathi and Sayadi, Sami(2010) 'A comparative study of the
industrial discharges effect on the anaerobic treatment of domestic wastewater in both experimental and pilot-plant
scales', Environmental Technology, 31: 12, 1325 — 1333
To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/09593331003713701
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09593331003713701
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Environmental Technology
Vol. 31, No. 12, November 2010, 1325–1333
10.1080/09593331003713701
The aim of this study was to compare the effect of industrial discharges on the anaerobic treatment of domestic
wastewater in both laboratory and pilot-plant scales at mesophilic conditions. The laboratory experiment results
have shown the low process efficiency of anaerobic treatment of DW by the use of an adapted or a non-adapted
methanogenic inoculum. These experiments performed in batch digesters were further confirmed by scaling up to
a pilot-plant anaerobic membrane bioreactor (MBR). The treatment inefficiency in both laboratory and pilot-plant
experiments could be related to the presence of toxic compounds due to the wastewater contamination by
industrial discharges. The toxic character of DW was proved by the phytotoxicity and microtoxicity tests. Indeed,
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the luminescence inhibition percentages started at an average of 21% in the morning and reached more than 84%
in the late afternoon. Moreover, the toxicity results have shown a direct relation with methanization results.
Indeed, when the average microtoxicity increased to 73%, the average germination index value and the
methanization efficiency expressed as the average methane percentage in the produced biogas decreased to 0% and
14.5%, respectively.
Keywords: domestic wastewater; industrial discharges; methanogenic inoculum; microtoxicity; phytotoxicity
was expressed as the rate of inhibition of the biolumi- and 0.5 g COD in Batches 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively.
nescence relative to that of a non-contaminated control To introduce 0.5 g COD of domestic wastewater in Batch
sample. A positive control (7.5% NaCl) was included for 5, we use DW-concentrate (1.25-fold). In this data, two
each test. batch test digesters (Batch DW and Batch glucose) were
used. The first batch test digester fed with 100% of
glucose without domestic wastewater was used to inves-
Phytotoxicity tigate the effect of this effluent on glucose digestion by
Phytotoxicity was estimated by determining the germi- the exhausted methanogenic inoculum. The second
nation index (GI), as described by Zucconi et al. [22], batch test digester fed with 100% domestic wastewater
using Lepidium sativum seeds. without glucose was used to test the effect of the pres-
ence of an easily biodegradable co-substrate on the
digestion efficiency of domestic wastewater. These
Results and discussion batch digesters had an equal total volume of 1000 mL.
−1
Lg −COD
1
L −1);ofBatch byLa−1non L −1of −1 −1
). L −1);(0.2 DWL: −100%
1
(0.2 Lg−COD
1
L −1); Batch L −1)
Laboratory experiments
tion is higher than the theoretical value. Such methane
(1) Domestic wastewater methanization using a non- production can be explained by the digestion of the
adapted methanogenic inoculum totality of glucose and a part of the anaerobic inoculum.
The activity of a non-adapted methanogenic inoculum The comparison between methane yield values during
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during the same sample treatment of domestic wastewa- the digestion of glucose and the co-digestion of glucose
ter was evaluated by the use of an easily digested and domestic wastewater shows that at low domestic
substrate: glucose. wastewater COD concentration, the methanogenic inoc-
The experiments were carried out during two weeks. ulum was able to degrade glucose. Also, the methane
Figure 1 shows the methane yield variation during the yield increased from 45% in Batch 1 to 50% in Batch 2.
co-digestion of glucose and domestic wastewater. Meth- In this study, co-digestion was chosen because it
ane yield was calculated as the report produced methane/ has become widely adopted as a method to improve
theoretical methane potential of the substrate. Five the performance of treatments [23]. In fact, the co-
different batch digesters were fed by a glucose concen- digestion is a method where different types of wastes
tration of 0.2 g COD L−1 mixed with different concen- are mixed and treated together and it offers many
trations of raw domestic wastewater. These advantages compared to the anaerobic digestion of one
concentrations were added to provide the desired COD substrate. However, Figure 1 shows a decrease of the
values varying from 0.3 to 0.7 g COD L−1 which corre- methane yield values with the increase of domestic
spond to an added wastewater COD of 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 wastewater concentration introduced especially in
Figure 1. Methane yield variation during the co-digestion of glucose and domestic wastewater, by a non-adapted methanogenic
inoculum: Batch glucose: 100% glucose (0.2 g COD L−1); Batch DW: 100% domestic wastewater (0.2 g COD L−1); Batch 1:
66.7% of glucose (0.2 g COD L−1) mixed with 33.3% of domestic wastewater (0.1 g COD L −1); Batch 2: 50% of glucose (0.2 g
COD L−1) mixed with 50% of domestic wastewater (0.2 g COD L −1); Batch 3: 40% of glucose (0.2 g COD L−1) mixed with 60%
(0.3 g COD L−1) of domestic wastewater; Batch 4: 33.3% (0.2 g COD L−1) of glucose mixed with 66.7% (0.4 g COD L−1) of
domestic wastewater; Batch 5: 28.5% of glucose (0.2 g COD L−1) mixed with 71.5% of domestic wastewater (0.5 g COD L −1).
1328 A. Saddoud et al.
Batch digesters 3, 4 and 5. This decrease could not be domestic wastewater presence at a fraction of 80% of
explained by glucose dilution and results given by the the total COD concentration.
Batch DW which was fed only with domestic waste- In order to test the methanogenic inoculum ability in
Figure 2. Variation of CO 2 ([squf ]) and CH4 ([squ ]) percentage in Batch 5 (a) and in Batch test (b).
water confirmed this deduction. Thus, taking into domestic wastewater digestion, nine samples of waste-
account co-digestion results, we can assume that: first, water collected at different days during a period of one
the biomass was unable to treat the domestic wastewa- year, were used to feed nine different batch digesters
ter pollution domestic; and second, this effluent has an without glucose addition. Biogas production from 400
inhibitor effect on glucose digestion by the non- mg COD L−1 domestic wastewater digestion is given in
adapted methanogenic inoculum at a fraction of Figure 3.
domestic wastewater COD over than 50% of the total As can be seen, almost 50% of all samples have a
Figure 3. Biogas production in 9 batch digesters fed by domestic wastewater without glucose.
COD concentration. Therefore, the metabolism was very low biogas production. This may imply that the
deviated to the production of CO2 instead of CH4. methanogenic inoculum was enabling to digest these
Figure 2 shows an example of CO2 and CH4 evolution effluents. The inability of methanogenic inoculum to
in Batch 5 and in Batch test. This deviation was treat this effluent could be due to a possible presence of
caused by the methanogenic disturbance created by low biodegradable substrates. To confirm this result,
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Figure 2. Variation of CO2 () and CH4 (∆) percentage in Batch 5 (a) and in Batch test (b).
]qs[uf ]qs[u
Environmental Technology 1329
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Figure 3. Biogas production in 9 batch digesters fed by domestic wastewater without glucose.
Batch 1 taken from the previous nine batch digesters occurrence of toxic compounds coming from industrial
was fed only by glucose. After five days, 400 mg COD discharges in domestic wastewater treatment plant pipe-
L−1 of a new sample of domestic wastewater was lines. To investigate the effect of sampling time in
introduced in this batch (Figure 4). A high decrease of methanogenic inoculm activity, 15 samples of raw
the methanogenic inoculum activity caused by the intro- domestic wastewater were collected during a day (6 h to
duction of this effluent was shown. In addition, the limi- 20 h) from domestic WWTP. Samples COD concentra-
tation of methanization process could be due to the tions and the evolution of methane percentage in
Figure 4. Effect of domestic wastewater on the methane () and biogas () production during the glucose digestion by a non-
adapted methanogenic inoculm.
1330 A. Saddoud et al.
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Figure 5. COD evolution () of wastewater samples and variation of methane percentage () in the produced biogas.
]qs[u ]qs[uf
produced biogas are given in Figure 5. Results show morning to the afternoon. The VFA concentrations were
that methane percentage in the produced biogas could monitored in Batch 20 (Figure 6). Results showed that
be related to industrial and household activities. Indeed, total VFA concentrations did not exceed 200 mg L−1.
methane percentage started from 49.5% and decreased These concentrations were always below the inhibitory
considerably to reach at 19 h the least value of 14.5%. limits in the batch digester. Therefore, the presence of
This trend corroborated generally with the increase of toxic compounds due to the wastewater contamination
raw domestic wastewater COD concentration from the by industrial discharges caused the decrease of the
Figure 6. Volatile fatty acid concentrations profile in the batch digesters Act (), But (∆), ISB (×) , Val (▲), Total VFA ().
Environmental Technology 1331
methanogenic inoculum activity. Indeed, domestic Phytotoxicity and microtoxicity tests were carried
wastewater toxicity could be related to industrial waste- out for monitoring the toxicity of these samples.
water discharges of the most problematic pollutants
occurring during the day, especially in the afternoon.
Thus, it can be concluded that only a part of the waste- (3) Domestic wastewater toxicity
water COD was biodegradable. The other part may be This part of the work attempted to determine the varia-
considered as a non-biodegradable or a recalcitrant tion of wastewater toxicity in function of the sampling
substrate. time. Therefore, samples used to investigate the effect
5.
6. Effect
Figure 4. COD
Volatile
evolution
offatty acid
([squ
domestic concentrations
]) of wastewater
wastewater on profilesamples
in the([squf
the methane batch
and variation
digesters
] ) and biogas
of
Actmethane
([squf But (∆),([squf
([squ percentage
]])), production
ISB (×])), in
during Val (▲
thethe
glucose
produced
), Total
digestion
VFA
biogas.
([squ
by a non
]). adapted methanogenic inoculm.
given in Figure 7. ity of the samples was high at 11, 12, 15, 18, 19 and
Figure 7 shows the same results obtained during
Figure 7. Biogas production ([squ ] ) and methane percentage ([squf ] ) during domestic wastewater digestion in the presence of an adapted inoculum.
Figure 7. Biogas production () and methane percentage () during domestic wastewater digestion in the presence of an adapted ]qs[u ]qs[uf
inoculum.
1332 A. Saddoud et al.
Figure 8. Germination Index of Lepidium sativum () and toxicity profile using Vibrio fisheri () of wastewater samples taken
]qs[uf ]qs[u
from 6 h to 20 h.
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morning until 11 h while the GI decreased to 0% for the is complex due to the presence of a mix of fatty
more toxic samples of 12, 15, 16, 19 and 20 h. deter- compounds, proteins detergents, heavy metals and other
mined by the LUMIStox. A direct relation was barely known compounds. These characteristics impose
observed between the wastewater methanization limitations to the anaerobic process in respect of COD
results, LUMIStox and the phytotoxicity tests. Indeed, removal efficiency, and also in terms of maximum
when the microtoxicity of the sample increased, the organic and hydraulic loading rates to be applied. These
germination index and the methanization efficiency limitations impose the need of integrated concepts for
decreased. domestic wastewater treatment.
The study by Aiyuk et al. [26] showed a high
efficiency of domestic wastewater treatment by an inte-
Pilot-plant experiment grated concept consisting of a coagulation/flocculation
The laboratory experiments performed in batch digest- pre-sedimentation step followed by treatment in an
ers were further verified by scaling up to a pilot-plant upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor (UASB)
anaerobic membrane reactor (MBR). The pilot-plant reactor.
was run with an organic loading rate from 0.8 to 1.2 g
COD L−1d−1. This work has been previously carried out
[24]. The results confirmed that the MBR proved to be Conclusion
inefficient for the treatment of domestic wastewater The laboratory experiments have shown the low process
originated from an industrial region. The limitation of efficiency of the anaerobic treatment of domestic waste-
the MBR treatment was shown through the considerable water by an adapted or non-adapted methanogenic inoc-
variation of biogas production and methane percentage ulum. In addition, the pilot-scale experiments have
in the biogas. This was due to the important variability shown the same results.
in the domestic wastewater composition and the exist- The process inefficiency could be related to the
ence of toxic compounds coming from the industrial presence of toxic compounds due to the wastewater
activities. Indeed, LUMIStox test and germination contamination by industrial discharges which inhibited
index confirmed the toxic character of this effluent [24]. both Lepidium sativum germination and Vibrio fischeri
However, our previous work [25] has reported the luminescence. Thus, it may be advisable to choose an
high efficiency of MBR in the anaerobic treatment of urban locality for domestic wastewater collection and
domestic wastewater originated from a non-industrial avoid industrial contaminated localities.
region. In this case, treated wastewater was of good
quality and was in line with World Health Organization
(WHO) guidelines for agricultural reuse. In fact, there Acknowledgements
are significant differences between raw domestic waste- We are grateful to the Office National d’Assainissement
water and contaminated domestic wastewater by indus- (ONAS) for allowing us to take wastewater samples from the
trial discharges. Contaminated wastewater composition wastewater treatment plant.
Environmental Technology 1333
Casalot, and S. Sayadi, Optimized conditions for the tio, FEMS Microbiol. Ecol. 32 (2000), pp. 11–15.
[16] A. Saddoud, M. Ellouze, A. Dhouib, and S. Sayadi, A
[16]
treatment of domestic wastewater in a membrane- obictreatment of wastewater with high organic content
coupled expended granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactor using a stirred tank reactor coupled with a membrane
under moderate to low temperature, Process Biochem. filtration unit, Water Res. 37 (2003), pp. 902–908.
[21] ISO 11348-2, Water quality – Determination of the
[21]