Treatment of high concentration methanol wastewater using an anaerobic sequencing batch reactor

Anaerobic treatment of high concentration methanol wastewater was studied using an anaerobic sequencing batch reactor(ASBR).The anaerobic inhibition of methanol,the effects of volume load and HRT on the treatment efficiency,and the metabolism variation of different methanol load were studied in the experiment.The results of the anaerobic inhibition experiment showed that the activity of methanogenic bacteria wouldn't be inhibited by methanol wastewater when the concentration of COD ranged from 3 000 to 30 000 mg·L-1.The system worked efficiently when the system volume loading was 4.6~9.1 kg·m-3·d-1.The route by which methanol was converted into methane had great effect on the COD removal of system.The acetate utilization rate increased with the volume loading.When the volume loading was 8 kg·m-3·d-1,the acetate utilization rate was 5% and the COD removal was over 95%.While the volume loading was 12 kg·m-3·d-1,the acetate utilization rate was 15.8% and the COD removal is less than 78%.