Anaerobic Treatment and Resource Recovery from Methanol Rich Waste Gases and Wastewaters

The anaerobic biological treatment of methanol-rich gaseous and liquid effluents was tested in two bioreactor configurations in the presence of sulfur and selenium oxyanions. The volatile fatty acids (VFA) produced in these bioreactors were quantified and a mass balance analysis was carried out.

1 General introduction 1.1. Background 1.2. Problem description 1.3. Research objectives 1.4. Thesis structure References 2 Literature review 2.1. Methanol in the pulping industry 2.2. Bioreactors for gas-phase methanol degradation 2.3. Anaerobic methanol utilization 2.4. Waste derived volatile fatty acids 2.5. Other industrial waste gases References 3 Selenate and thiosulfate reduction using methanol as electron donor Abstract 3.1. Introduction 3.2. Materials and methods 3.3. Results 3.4. Discussion 3.5. Conclusions References 4 Performance of a biotrickling filter for anaerobic utilization of gas-phase methanol coupled to thiosulphate reduction and resource recovery through volatile fatty acids production Abstract 4.1. Introduction 4.2. Materials and methods 4.3. Results and discussion 4.4. Conclusions References 5 Gas-phase methanol fed anaerobic biotrickling filter for the reduction of selenate under step and continuous feeding conditions Abstract 5.1. Introduction 5.2. Materials and methods 5.3. Results 5.4. Discussion 5.5. Conclusions References 6 Selenate bioreduction using methane as the electron donor in a biotrickling filter Abstract 6.1. Introduction 6.2. Materials and methods 6.3. Results 6.4. Discussion 6.5. Conclusions References 7 Volatile fatty acid production from Kraft mill foul condensate in upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors Abstract 7.1. Introduction 7.2. Materials and methods 7.3. Results 7.4. Discussion 7.5. Conclusions References 8 Volatile fatty acid adsorption on anion exchange resins: kinetics and selective recovery of acetic acid Abstract 8.1. Introduction 8.2. Materials and methods 8.3. Results and discussion 8.4. Conclusions References 9 General discussion, conclusions 9.1. General discussion 9.2. VFA production from gas-phase methanol 9.3. VFA production from liquid-phase methanol 9.4. Methanol rich effluents as carbon source for the reduction of S and Se oxyanions 9.5. VFA recovery using ion-exchange resins 9.6. Future perspectives 9.7. Conclusions References