Kinetics of Anaerobic Treatment

A review of the kinetics of anaerobic treatment and the reported values of such kinetic parameters as the maximum specific substrate utilization rate (k), the half-saturation constant (Ks), the microbial growth yield (Y), and the microorganism decay rate constant (b) are presented. The available kinetic information is presented for each subprocess: (a) hydrolysis of complex, paniculate organic materials; (b) fermentation of amino acids and sugars; (c) anaerobic oxidation of long-chain fatty acids and alcohols; (d) anaerobic oxidation of intermediary products (such as short-chain fatty acids); (e) homoacetogenesis; and (f) methanogenesis. The intrinsic rates of each step as well as mass transfer limitations and their effect on the intrinsic kinetics are discussed and areas requiring further research are also identified. Substantial variation exists in the reported values of the kinetic coefficients. This variation is due in part to the variability in mode of operation, environmental and operational conditions in the various studies as well as to the lack of a widely accepted standard procedure for measuring and expressing the biokinetic coefficients. The hydrolysis step is usually assumed to follow first-order kinetics. Whenever the kinetics of the hydrolysis step were studied, they were generally found to be the limiting-step in the overall conversion of complex substrates to methane. With the exception of the hydrolysis step, all other subprocesses of anaerobic treatment have been successfully modeled by following Monod kinetics. The Contois and Chen & Hashimoto model has also been used quite extensively to account for the effect of influent substrate concentration on effluent quality. Based on a brief overview of the observed phenomena related to the kinetics of mass transfer in methanogenesis, it is concluded that with but few exceptions, the evidence for the significance of mass transfer effects in the different reactor configurations is circumstantial and, in some cases, contradictory. Our understanding of the kinetics of paniculate substrate removal in biofilms is still incomplete for engineering applications, and more research is necessary.