Optimization of biofilm and hydrodynamics for Anaerobic Biocord Bioreactors (AnBioCord)

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Anaerobic digestion is the preferred treatment process for organic wastes due to its low nutrient requirements, low biomass yield, and biogas (CH4) production. Anaerobic digestion processes have been widely applied to various complex feedstocks including municipal wastewater sludge, chemical, and agricultural industry wastewater. However, current conventional anaerobic digestion processes require a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of up to 40 days to achieve the necessary stabilization of organic wastes, which translates to a large footprint. An alternative approach is to design and develop a sustainable anaerobic biofilm digestion system that is not only capable of integrating functions i.e. biodegradation, biomass-liquid separation, and biomass retention at high suspended solids content while reducing energy demand but also can be easily applied to retrofit existing conventional technologies. The AnBioCord offers numerous advantages over conventional systems including low footprint, decoupling of hydraulic retention time (HRT) from solids retention time (SRT), and high biomass-liquid separation. The proposed system will be used to retrofit and develop an economical, robust and efficient process to enhance the production of bioenergy in the form of biomethane during the treatment of high strength organic municipal and industrial streams. The objective of this research, in collaboration with Bishop Water Technologies Inc. (BWT), is to develop a new anaerobic biofilm BioCord digestion system (AnBioCord). This will be achieved using a lab-scale AnBioCord system to understanding the hydrodynamic of biofilm process and optimize the effect of environmental parameters (i.e. nutrient composition and concentration, pH, and the strength of ionic interactions) on biofilm to increase the bioreactor efficiency and develop a fundamental scientific relationship between the effect of BioCord materials and biofilm performance.