UTILIZATION OF PUMICE STONE AS SUPPORT FOR THE ANAEROBIC TREATMENT OF VINASSE WITH A FLUIDIZED-BED REACTOR

This paper deals with the start-up procedure and operation of an 0.63-liter anaerobic fluidized bed reactor treating distillery wastewater and using pumice stone as support. Start-up with addition of methanol gave a rapid organic degradation (90% COD). Six different hydraulic retention times (between 0.5 and 2.48 days) were studied, achieving a COD removal efficiency of 76.5-94.1% and biogas production rates of 0.28-12.31 m3.m-3.d-1. A simple and inexpensive, two end-point alkalimetric method was used to get information about the stability of operation of the reactor.