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Polyphenols from Sugarcane Vinasses, Quantification, and Removal Using Activated Carbon After Biochemical Treatment in Laboratory-Scale Thermophilic Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactors

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A Correction to this article was published on 20 August 2020

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Abstract

Studies on the removal of polyphenols from sugarcane vinasses using three upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors operating isothermally at temperatures of 45, 55, and 65 °C are presented. The procedure started evaluating the stability of the reactors through the quantification of four important parameters of the process: temperature, pH, alkalinity factor, and acetic acid production. The physical and chemical characterizations of the vinasses were made to evaluate the applied treatment. Total polyphenols were quantified before and after the biochemical treatment using the Folin-Ciocalteu’s method. The obtained results showed that this biochemical treatment was not enough by itself to remove the phenolic compounds present in the vinasses feed. The use of complementary treatment for the removal of polyphenols with activated carbon was proposed and evaluated. The effectiveness of the adsorption process was analyzed and compared through the models of Langmuir, Freundlich, and Dubinin-Radushkevich, using the obtained experimental data. The model that provided the best fit of the experimental data was the Langmuir model with a correlation coefficient of 0.991. The adsorption process achieved to reduce the concentration of polyphenols in the vinasses from 3600 mg of gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/L to 1072 mg GAE/L by single-step adsorption. That is equivalent to an overall reduction of 70.2%.

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Data Availability

Data are available upon request.

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  • 20 August 2020

    The original version of this article unfortunately contained an error.

Abbreviations

ANOVA:

analysis of variance

BOD5 :

biochemical oxygen demand at 5 days (mg/L)

COD:

total chemical oxygen demand (mg/L)

DV:

reactor influent 50:50 tap water diluted vinasses

DV65:

reactor influent 75:25 tap water diluted vinasses

GAE:

gallic acid equivalent

GC-FID:

gas chromatograph with a flame ionization detector

R:

reactor

R 2 :

correlation coefficient, coefficient of determination, or coefficient of multiple determination for multiple regression statistical measure of how close the data are to the fitted regression line

SV:

Sugarcane-ethanol industry vinasses

UASB reactor:

Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor

45°C-R:

Reactor operating at 45 °C

55°C-R:

Reactor operating at 55 °C

65°C-R:

Reactor operating at 65 °C

B :

Dubinin-Radushkevich constant (mg2/J2)

C :

equilibrium concentration (mg/L)

K :

Langmuir adsorption constant (mg/L)

K a :

thermodynamic equilibrium constant, adimensional

K F :

Freundlich constant (mg/g)

n :

adjustment parameter, adimensional

p :

p value or probability value is the probability of obtaining test results at least as extreme as the results observed during the test, assuming that the null hypothesis is correct (Aschwanden 2019)

q :

efficiency of adsorption (mg/g)

q o :

Langmuir empirical constant (mg/g)

q m :

theoretical isotherm saturation capacity (mg/g)

R :

universal gas constant (J/mol K)

T :

absolute temperature (K)

α :

alkalinity factor

∆G :

change in the Gibbs free energy (kJ/mol)

Ɛ :

Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm constant (J/g)

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Acknowledgments

Vinasses were provided by a Mexican cooperating sugarcane by-product distillery.

Funding

Funding was provided by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM (in Spanish). First author received a graduate study scholarship granted by the Mexican Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, Conacyt (Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, Conacyt, in Spanish). Reagents, glassware, and consumable materials were obtained with the projects PAPIME (PE100514) (Programa de Apoyo a la Investigación y Mejoramiento de la Enseñanza, in Spanish), PAPIIT (IN-118111-2) (Programa de Apoyo a Proyectos de Investigación e Innovación Tecnológica, in Spanish), and PAIP (5000-9067) (Programa de Apoyo a la Investigación y el Posgrado in Spanish); all of them are from UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, in Spanish). The main results of this paper were presented as a poster at 6ISEBE with the financial support of the UNAM Graduate Program of Chemical Sciences and the Conacyt PAEP (Program for Supporting Graduate Studies in Spanish).

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  1. Facultad de Química, Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Laboratorios de Ingeniería Química Ambiental y de Química Ambiental, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Conjunto E. Circuito de la Investigación Científica s/n Ciudad Universitaria, Ciudad de Mexico, 04510, México

    José Antonio Contreras-Contreras, Marisela Bernal-González & María del Carmen Durán-Domínguez-de-Bazúa

  2. Instituto de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa de Enríquez, Veracruz, Mexico

    Julio Alberto Solís-Fuentes

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  1. José Antonio Contreras-Contreras
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Contreras-Contreras, J.A., Bernal-González, M., Solís-Fuentes, J.A. et al. Polyphenols from Sugarcane Vinasses, Quantification, and Removal Using Activated Carbon After Biochemical Treatment in Laboratory-Scale Thermophilic Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactors. Water Air Soil Pollut 231, 401 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-020-04733-5

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