Anaerobic-fed and sequencing-batch treatment of sugar-beet processing wastes: a comparative study.

The aim of this study was to compare a batch-fed continuously mixed anaerobic reactor (FCMR) with an anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR), in terms of waste stabilization and methane production treating sugar-beet processing wastewater and beet-pulp simultaneously. A reactor was operated as FCMR, which then was operated as an ASBR by changing operational conditions after the steady-state was reached. Although the hydraulic retention time value of the ASBR configuration was lower (8 days) than that of the FCMR (15 days) and the corresponding organic loading rate (OLR) was higher (0.71 to 1.33 g COD/L x d), increased biomass retention enabled a significant increase in biomethanation for the ASBR configuration. So, methane production yield of 255 +/- 11 mL/g COD-added was increased to 337 +/- 15 mL/g COD-added (32.2% increase in methane yield) when the configuration was changed from FCMR to ASBR. The experimental results indicated that the ASBR configuration, which was applied to sugar-beet processing wastes for the first time, was superior to the FCMR configuration.