ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Unionized Acetate Degradation at 45ºC Anaerobic
Digestion: Kinetics and Inhibition
More details
Hide details
1
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Malaya, Lembah Pantai, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
Submission date: 2018-01-06
Final revision date: 2018-02-01
Acceptance date: 2018-02-10
Online publication date: 2018-10-08
Publication date: 2018-12-20
Corresponding author
Nuruol Syuhadaa Mohd
University of Malaya, DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING FACULTY OF ENGINEERING, 50603 WP KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2019;28(2):747-756
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
This study demonstrated the degradation of unionized acetate in anaerobic digestion at 45ºC through
the identification of kinetics and inhibition parameters. The kinetic parameters, Ks and rmax, were
determined using Monod-based model for three different conditions, namely uninhibited, inhibited,
and systems with high substrate condition. The Ks values for uninhibited condition were in the range
of 0.124 to 0.191 mg/L as unionized HAc. Ks value of inhibited condition were at 0.027 mg/L
as unionized HAc. Ks values for systems with high substrate condition were found to be in the range
of 0.237 to 0.279 mg/L as unionized HAc. As for rmax, a 35ºC anaerobic digestion system showed the
highest value at 0.166 mg/L/day – greater than the values of all 45ºC systems under all experimental
conditions. Additionally, the inhibition parameter KI was also determined using the Michaelis-Menten
model. The parameter was determined for inhibitory conditions resulting from high free NH3 content.
The inhibition type was uncompetitive with KI value of 0.072 mg/L as unionized HAc. The outcomes
suggested that the methanogens responsible for the digestion process at 45ºC were thermo-tolerant acetateutilizing
methanogens of Methanosarcinaceae species, and the system will be totally inhibited with the
presence of high free NH3 content.