Abstract:
Several biological reactions are involved in anaerobic digestion ofindustrial wastewater leading to biogas production. Microbial consortia play animportant role in both natural environment and in bioreactor. Under normalcondition, propionate and acetate are important intermediates in the anaerobicdegradation of complex matter. These volatile organic acids are the main source ofsubstrate for the methanogenic bacteria, however they also plug inhibitory effect forthe methane producing organisms at high concentration.Mathematical modeling of microbial population has evolved into avaluable tool for bio-process engineering and analysis of process. Because of acomplex process and an insufficiently characterized mixed culture, it is the objectiveof this research to focus on modeling approaches for the quantitative description ofthe system. The model employed Monod equations to set up and MATLABcomputer program is used to simulate the model. The results of the appropriatemodel simulation fit the experimental data, which were collected in a related butseparated works. Some experimental data of organic acid degradation were presentedusing mixed culture from the anaerobic mesophillic digesters fed with pineapplewaste and the methanogenic enriched culture. The experiment performed usingserum vial technique with single or combined acids. The appropriate model wasapplied to provide insights the degradation of acetic acid and propionic acid. It wasfound that:1. Acetate inhibited both acetic acid and propionic acid digestion. Thedigestion of propionate was not inhibited by propionate.2. There were 2 groups of bacteria involved acetate digestion. MPBconsumed acetate and produced methane gas. SRB consumed acetate withoutmethane production. SRB grew at a faster rate than MPB but its maximumpopulation is restricted by the amount of sulfate in the system. The two groups ofbacteria played important role in the system both in competition and in synergism.They competed to consume the same substrate and synergised in reducing the toxicof high concentration of acetic acid.3. The propionate digestion involved 3 groups of bacteria. SRB preferredto consume propionate instead of acetate, but it still grew the fastest among thesethree groups and its growth was restricted by the amount of sulfate. SAB consumedpropionate without sulfate requirement. The growth of SAB was strongly inhibitedby acetate concentration in the system. MPB independently consumed acetate andproduced methane gas. SRB and SAB compete to consume propionate. In contrastboth of propionate utilizing bacteria synergist MPB by producing substrate for MPB.MPB synergist SRB and SAB by reducing concentration of acetate, which is inhibitpropionate digestion.