Comparison of the Efficiency of Moving- and Fixed-bed Bioreactors for Treatment of High-strength Synthetic Wastewater

A. Rezaee, S. Jorfi and R. D. Cheshmeh Soltani

Abstract
A lab-scale Plexiglas cubic container as a pre-aeration reactor with total volume of 10 L, and two integrated bioreactors including a moving-bed bioreactor (MBBR) and a fixed-bed bioreactor with total volume of 30 L separately were used for experimental study. The main purpose was to compare the performance of moving-bed and fixed-bed reactors for degradation of high organic loading in synthetic wastewater. Varying organic loadings of 0.5 to 9 kg COD m3 d–1 were applied. Generally, the total microbial mass in terms of attached biofim and VSS was higher in the MBBR. The microbial mass in the MBBR increased from 4120 to 4640 mg L–1 and in the fixed-bed bioreactor from 4124 to 4564 mg L–1. The COD removal efficiency in sequencing runs of operation in moving-bed and fixed-bed bioreactors varied from 96.27 % to 81.27 %, and from 95.2 % to 74.82 % respectively. The data obtained from this study indicate that MBBR, with the applied media in this study, was more efficient than the fixed-bed bioreactor for biodegradation of organic matter under identical operating conditions.

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Keywords
moving-bed reactor, fixed-bed reactor, biofilm, organic matter, biodegradation