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Start-up and operation of a propionate-degrading fluidized-bed reactor

  • Environmental Biotechnology
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Summary

A laboratory-scale fluidized-bed reactor was inoculated with a syntrophically propionate-degrading co-culture. After 24 days of batch operation with propionate and acetate in the medium, the reactor was operated for 8 months with propionate as the sole substrate. The loading rate was 8.5 kg chemical oxygen demand/m3 ·day, yielding a maximal gas production of 4.5 l/l·day at a removal efficiency of 94–99%. The degradation was not inhibited by up to 85mm propionate in pulse experiments, but short-time changes in redox potential above — 300 mV led to a drop in the propionate degradation rate. While Methanocorpusculum sp. and Methanospirillum sp. adhered to the sand in the early phase of the start-up, the consortium in the mature biofilm consisted of Desulfobulbus sp., Methanothrix soehngenii and species of at least three different genera of hydrogenotrophic methanogens. A syntrophic relationship between the sulphate-reducing Desulfobulbus sp. and hydrogenotrophic and acetotrophic methanogens is discussed.

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  1. Institut für Mikrobiologie, Universität Hannover, Schneiderberg 50, W-3000, Hannover 1, Federal Republic of Germany

    Birgit Heppner, Gerhard Zellner & Hans Diekmann

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  1. Birgit Heppner
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  2. Gerhard Zellner
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  3. Hans Diekmann
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Heppner, B., Zellner, G. & Diekmann, H. Start-up and operation of a propionate-degrading fluidized-bed reactor. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 36, 810–816 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00172200

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00172200

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