Effect of hydraulic retention time on biohydrogen and volatile fatty acids production during acidogenic digestion of dephenolized olive mill wastewaters

The influence of Hydraulic Retention Time (HRT) on the performances of a recently developed biotechnological anaerobic acidogenic process fed with dephenolized Olive Mill Wastewater (OMW) was investigated. The study was carried out under mesophilic conditions in Packed Bed Biofilm Reactors (PBBRs), filled with ceramic cubes and inoculated with a characterized and acclimated acidogenic microbial consortium. The PBBRs were fed with a HRT of 7, 5, 3 or 1 day, which corresponded to Organic Loading Rates (OLRs) of about 5.5, 7.8, 12.9 and 38.8 g L-1 d-1, respectively. A significant production of a H2-rich biogas was observed when shorter HRTs were applied: in particular, H2 relative amount and productivity increased from 3% to 32% and from 0.20 to 6.10 dm3 m3 h1, respectively, by decreasing the HRT from 7 to 1 day. On the contrary, shorter HRTs turned into a lower accumulation of Volatile Fatty Acids (VFAs), whose highest amounts were found with HRTs of 7 and 5 days (about 18.4 and 19.7 g L-1 COD equivalents, respectively). The highest conversion yield of COD into VFAs (36%) was obtained with a HRT of 5 days, when VFAs represented about 78% of the effluent COD. HRT also influenced the composition of the VFA mixture: acetic, propionic and butyric acid were the most prominent VFAs, being their relative amounts higher when PBBRs were operated with shorter HRTs (up to 19, 12 and 42% of the whole mixture, respectively, when HRT was 1 day).