Department of Environment and Planning/CESAM-Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal.
Department of Materials and Ceramic Engineering/CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal.
Bioprocess Biosyst Eng. 2021 Jun;44(6):1167-1183. doi: 10.1007/s00449-021-02522-w. Epub 2021 Feb 11.
In anaerobic digestion processes, pH has a vital role due to the direct impacts on the microbial community. An eco-friendly approach has been applied to control pH in anaerobic bioreactors, using waste-containing fly ash geopolymer spheres (GS) instead of powdered chemical compounds, to promote continuous alkalis leaching. The influence of GS porosity and concentration on the behavior of anaerobic sequential batch reactor treating cheese whey was evaluated. Results showed that the use of GS with the highest concentration and porosity promoted an increase in methane yield up to 30%, compared to the assay with powdered chemical compounds addition. In addition, GS boosted butyric acid production to the detriment of propionic acid, which favored methane production by a factor up to 1.2. This innovative approach indicates that GS addition can regulate pH in anaerobic digesters treating challenging wastewaters and, simultaneously, improve not only its efficiency but also the sustainability of the entire process.
在厌氧消化过程中，pH 值起着至关重要的作用，因为它会直接影响微生物群落。本研究采用一种环保的方法来控制厌氧生物反应器中的 pH 值，使用含有废飞灰的地质聚合物球（GS）代替粉状化学物质，以促进连续的碱浸出。评估了 GS 的孔隙率和浓度对处理奶酪乳清的厌氧序批式反应器行为的影响。结果表明，与添加粉状化学物质的实验相比，使用具有最高浓度和孔隙率的 GS 可将甲烷产量提高多达 30%。此外，GS 促进了丁酸的产生，而抑制了丙酸的产生，这有利于甲烷的产生，其促进因子高达 1.2。这种创新方法表明，GS 的添加可以调节处理挑战性废水的厌氧消化器中的 pH 值，同时不仅提高了其效率，而且还提高了整个过程的可持续性。
