Low Temperature Effects on Anaerobic Microbial Kinetic Parameters

Abstract

Anaerobic sequencing batch reactors (ASBRs) were operated in the temperature range of 5 to 25°C and 24, 16, 12, 8, 6 hour hydraulic retention times (HRTs) over a period of two years to evaluate the effects of different temperatures on the microbial kinetic parameters K, K_s, K_d, Y_g and μ_m. The values of K, K_d and μ_m were found to decrease, and the half saturation constant, K_s was found to increase with a decrease in temperature in accordance with the Arrhenius equation. Temperature coefficient, θ values for substrate utilization rate, maximum specific growth rate, decay rate and half saturation constant were 1.083, 1.062, 1.076 and 1.05 respectively. Through the determination of kinetic parameters, a design engineer may be able to predict the performance of ASBR treatment systems over a wide range of low temperatures.

Keywords:

• Anaerobic
• kinetics
• low temperature
• Arrhenius equation
• Monod equation