Start-up, steady state performance and kinetic evaluation of a thermophilic integrated anaerobic–aerobic bioreactor (IAAB)

Thermophilic treatment of palm oil mill effluent (POME) was studied in a novel integrated anaerobic–aerobic bioreactor (IAAB). The IAAB was subjected to a program of steady-state operation over a range of organic loading rate (OLR)s, up to 30 g COD/L day in order to evaluate its treatment capacity. The thermophilic IAAB achieved high chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and total suspended solids (TSS) removal efficiencies of more than 99% for OLR up to 18.5 g COD/L day. High methane yield of 0.32 LCH4 (STP)/g CODremoved with compliance of the final treated effluent to the discharge limit were achieved. This is higher than that of the mesophilic system due to the higher maximum specific growth rate (μmax) of the thermophilic microorganisms. Besides, coupling the model of Grau second order model (anaerobic system) with the model of Monod (aerobic system) will completely define the IAAB system.