Abstract
A conventional thermophilic anaerobic digester was converted into a thermophilic high-rate hybrid anaerobic reactor (THAR) for treating distillery wastewater. The THAR has been operating successfully since May 1995 at a loading rate of 5.45 to $11.52{\;}kg/\textrm{m}^3/d$ (maximum of 15.02). The THAR has demonstrated a soluble Chemical Oxygen Demand (sCOD) removal efficiency of 85 to 91% and a total COD (tCOD) removal efficiency of as much as 72 to 84%. Product gas had a methane content of 59 to 68%. The tCOD removal rates were 4.31 to 5.43, 6.26 to 6.89, and 9.03 to $9.78kg{\;}tCOD/\textrm{m}^3/d$ for tapioca, com, and naked-barley wastewater, respectively. The sCOD removal rates ranged from 3.75 to 4.79,3.28 to 4.89, and 5.57 to 6.21kg $sCOD/\textrm{m}^3/d$ for tapioca, com, and naked-barley wastewater, respectively. There were unknown substances in a naked-barley distillery wastewater that were identified as being toxic for microorganisms. However, the THAR treated naked-barley wastewater continuously for 26 days, operating at an average tCOD loading of $11.08{\;}kg/\textrm{m}^3/d$without any signs of deterioration in either COD removal efficiency or gas production rate. During this period, the average removal efficiencies of tCOD and sCOD were 84% and 91%, respectively, and the gas production rate averaged 6.61 to $7.57{\;}\textrm{m}^3/\textrm{m}^3$ reactor/d which produced 0.57 to $0.69{\;}\textrm{m}^3{\;}biogas/kg{\;}tCOD_{rem}$. From tapioca and com wastewater, the reactor showed an average gas production rate of 3.18 to 3.46 and 4.91 to $5.22{\;}\textrm{m}^3/\textrm{m}^3$ reactor/d which produced 0.53 to 0.69 and 0.62 to $0.71{\;}\textrm{m}^3/kg{\;}tCOD_{rem}$, respectively.