Stability of high-rate anaerobic systems. I: Performance under shocks

Three laboratory reactors, that is, an anaerobic fluidized bed reactor, an anaerobic filter, and an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor, of identical size and operated under identical conditions, were studied by focusing on the system stability in the presence of various shocks. The results obtained from various shock tests revealed the differences and similarities between the behaviors of different reactors with respect to different system parameters. The stability of the three reactors subjected to various shocks was compared and ranked based on the examination of the responses of some sensitive system parameters. Gas phase parameters should be combined with liquid phase parameters to explicitly characterize an anaerobic system's operating status.