ABSTRACT
Treatability studies were conducted on two different industrial waste streams using a new compartmentalized, high-rate, anaerobic reactor system known as the anaerobic migrating blanket reactor (AMBR). During the first experimental run, studies were conducted on a 4:1 mixture of cardboard recycling plant wastewater and industrial grade bioenzyme plant wastewater. Later, a second experimental run was made using the cardboard recycling plant wastewater by itself. Soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) removals of 78% were achieved at a COD loading rate of 8 g/L/day while treating the combined waste stream, and 72% at a COD loading rate of 10 g/L/day while treating solely the cardboard recycling wastewater. Additional studies suggest that compartmentalized reactors such as the AMBR can provide additional sites for the metabolism of higher energy organics that accumulate during shock-loading conditions.
